There it is, number 11. Vince DeGregory has racked up another one. The veteran agent is celebrating the election of Joel Rosario to the Racing Hall of Fame with a litany of fond memories and entry in a cellphone file as the latest—he says the last—of the jockeys he has represented to be so honored.
"This is a real thrill for me," DeGregory said this week from his home near Santa Anita Park. "I was with Joel from the beginning here in Southern California. He and I still talk all the time. I'm proud of him, and he handles himself so well. He came to this country speaking very little English, and now he'll be up there accepting his Hall of Fame plaque. What a story."
There are moments in the life of every racing journalist that seem innocent enough at the time, and yet become the seeds of great things to follow. Leaving Hollywood Park by the walking ring gates one June afternoon—the year was 2007—DeGregory was encountered with a young man of obvious jockey-size proportions. DeGregory couldn't wait to offer an introduction.
"I'd like you to meet Joel Rosario," the agent said. "He's been riding up north and he's about to start here. I promise you he's going to be the next big star."
Rosario smiled and offered his hand. His handshake was soft, reminiscent of the way Laffit Pincay Jr. would avoid a test of macho strength with gentle clasp. With that, and the Rosario smile, it looked as if DeGregory had something to work with.
It helped that at the time Rosario was dominating the scene at Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows. Through early June, he had won 117 races in Northern California, often chalking up clumps of multi-winner days. It was after one of these displays that DeGregory heard from his pal, Joe Griffin.
"You see this kid Rosario up here?" Griffin asked. "He's from Santo Domingo."
"No, what about him?" DeGregory replied.
"He just won three races yesterday. You should bring him down there."
"Can he speak English?" DeGregory asked.
"I don't think so, but..."
"Not interested," DeGregory said. "It's too tough if he can't communicate with people."
A couple weeks later, Griffin called again.
"I hope you're still watching this kid Rosario," he said. "He won four today."
"How many?" DeGregory asked.
"Four."
"Have him call me."
Rosario, 22 at the time, cinched his call-up to Southern California with a five-winner flourish April 26, 2007, at Golden Gate Fields. Three weeks later he was getting chances at Hollywood Park, with support from trainers like John Sadler, but the competition was deep, and DeGregory conceded his new jock was faced with a learning curve.
"I told him he needed to learn to switch sticks and go left-handed," DeGregory said. "He'd be using his right hand all the time, and when he came to pass another horse in the stretch he'd have to check a few strides to straighten out his horse. I showed him that every time he did that he cost his horse a length, maybe two, and that was making the difference in losing a race.
"Joel lived with me at first on Beverly Drive, near the CBS Studio," DeGregory continued. "As we drove down La Brea Boulevard to Hollywood Park, he'd point out at signs that said 'Money Order.' I asked him what about it. 'For family,' he said. 'Back in Santo Domingo.' That opened my eyes to the kind of kid he was, fresh in the United States, worried about the nine family members he had back home in the Dominican Republic.
"At one point I got him with Eddie Delahoussaye," DeGregory said. "Joel wanted to come from behind all the time and get up in the last part. Eddie told him he needed to move sooner and open up, especially with cheaper horses, who'd get brave making the lead. Joel was a good listener, and he wanted to learn."
Rosario learned, and then some. Through April 26, his mounts have earned more than $318 million, good for fourth on the all-time list behind only John Velazquez, Javier Castellano, and Mike Smith. The most recent of Rosario's 3,607 winners occurred Friday at Keeneland aboard the Nyquist 2-year-old Burning Pine for trainer Wesley Ward.
On May 4, Rosario will try to put a cherry on top of his Hall of Fame honors with a second victory in the Kentucky Derby (G1) aboard Track Phantom, from the Steve Asmussen stable. He won the 2013 Derby with Orb, then added Belmont Stakes (G1) trophies to his collection in 2014 and 2019. Rosario won the first of his 15 Breeders' Cup events in 2009 and the Eclipse Award as the outstanding jockey of 2021, when he partnered Horse of the Year Knicks Go .
As long as we're counting, though, let's turn back to DeGregory and his ability to rattle off the 10 Hall of Fame jockeys on his résumé before Rosario's election. So he began:
"Angel Cordero, Laffit Pincay, Chris McCarron, Bill Shoemaker, Jacinto Vasquez—when he was 17, right from Panama!—Alex Solis, Victor Espinoza, Darrel McHargue, and Corey Nakatani last year. And now Joel."
The head spins.
"I can't even imagine that I had that many opportunities to work with so many great jockeys," DeGregory.
Then again, DeGregory has been fired by many of those same great jockeys, a common hazard of the occupation that he blames on his intensity of purpose.
"I make no excuses," DeGregory said. "I insisted my riders treat this as a serious business. This is a life and death job they've got out there. They needed to take care of themselves, treat their trainers and owners with respect, talk with the guys at the barn about their horses."
DeGregory was a star athlete at Saratoga High School in baseball and basketball before wandering into the racetrack life.
"My first job at the track was walking hots at Saratoga for a trainer named Harry Hatcher," DeGregory said. "The next summer I was a Pinkerton, but I told my boss I didn't like to carry the gun. He told me to just lock it down, and he'd put me in the paddock where I could stand under the shady trees and all I had to do was keep the kids from climbing the fence.
"Eddie Arcaro knew my dad and took me under his wing," DeGregory continued. "When I wanted to be an agent, he took me to the stewards and vouched for me. Marshall Cassidy said, 'I know this young man. I saw him playing softball in tournaments at the racetrack.' I was 16."
Agents have attended Hall of Fame inductions for their longtime clients in the past, but they rarely appear on stage. DeGregory had that privilege in 1975 when Pincay was sidelined with a broken clavicle in California and did not want to make the trip east. DeGregory gladly deputized for the ceremony that included Carry Back, Ruthless, Shuvee, Stymie, jockey Conn McCreary, and trainers Carey Winfrey and Allen Jerkens. At 28, Pincay was the youngest rider ever inducted.
The rules of eligibility changed, requiring jockeys to have ridden for 20 years before they could appear on the ballot. Rosario's career began in Puerto Rico in 2003, which made him eligible for the first time this year. He will be inducted alongside 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner and 2018 Horse of the Year and Triple Crown winner Justify in a ceremony scheduled for Aug. 2 at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., just around the corner from the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
And if anyone needs another reason to celebrate during the month, Vince DeGregory will turn 92 Aug. 29.
