Franco Pick Three: Newcomer Rides Three Winners In A Row Saturday At Santa Anita
Fault and jockey Geovanni Franco win the Grade II, $200,000 Buena Vista Stakes, Saturday, Feruary 17, 2018 at Santa Anita Park, Arcadia CA.© BENOIT PHOTO
With three straight victories Saturday, including a rail-skimming, one-length triumph on 12-1 shot Fault for trainer Phil D’Amato in the Grade II Buena Vista Stakes, jockey Geovanni Franco has climbed to eighth with 14 wins in Santa Anita’s Winter Meet standings after 31 days.
“I’ve won three in a row before,” the 27-year-old native of Mexico City said among well-wishers at a busy Clockers’ Corner Sunday morning, “but not at Santa Anita.”
His wins came on 5-1 shot Rocket Heat by 3 ¼ lengths for trainer Mark Glatt in the fifth race; 9-2 Curly’s Mark by a neck for trainer Phil Oviedo in the sixth; and the aforementioned Fault in the Buena Vista, which went as race seven.
The $1 Franco Pick Three paid $505.90.
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"Phil (D’Amato) told me she had improved since he got her, and that she was ready to rock and roll,” Franco said, “but I pretty much left it up to the filly and she got it done.”
Said D’Amato after Fault’s victory: “Geovanni breezed her in her last work. I’ve been watching him ride for the last couple of weeks and been very impressed with his grass rides. He just gets it. He saves ground and gets a lot out of these horses.
“With the lineup that was coming into this race, all the jockeys were already taken and I thought it was a perfect time to give him a chance and he rewarded us with a great ride.”
As to becoming an “overnight sensation” since arriving from the East Coast, Franco is keeping matters in perspective.
“I knew it would be tough here, but I always had confidence,” said Franco, whose agent is James Giannone. “I’m very thankful and blessed that things have been going so well for us.”
