Two-time leading Assiniboia Downs rider Antonio Whitehall is back in town looking for his third local riding title, and it didn’t take him long to get back into the swing of things. He got on 10 horses Tuesday morning, his first day back in the saddle.
Whitehall won the title here in 2020 with 74 wins and tied for top spot with Prayven Badrie in 2018 with 41 wins. Whitehall also finished third among all jockeys in Canada in 2020 with 117 victories, behind only Rafael Hernandez (129 wins) and Justin Stein (127), both of whom had substantially more days of riding at Woodbine.
The likeable 28-year-old from Barbados split his time riding last year between Alberta and Manitoba and ended up 6th in the local standings with 24 wins and 4th in the Century Mile standings with 30 wins.
“My main focus will be Winnipeg this year,” said Whitehall. “I have good clients and good business here.”
Whitehall, who has applied for permanent resident status in Canada, spent two years here during the pandemic before being able to fly home to Barbados this past winter, where he rode a few horses just to stay in shape. He’s already been on horses locally for trainers Steve Gaskin, Shaun Morin, Monique Goulet, and Jared Brown, the latter of whom arrived just before the storm with a number of new claims.
Whitehall won the Manitoba Oaks for Brown last year aboard Xtrema, and he’ll likely be competing for mounts in that barn, and for the riding title, with last year’s leading rider Jorge Carreno. The latter won the title here last year with 80 wins, 31 more than runner-up Stanley Chadee Jr. (49 wins) and third-place finisher Sheldon Chickeness (48).
Carreno currently sits ninth in the standings at Sunland Park with 12 wins, one of which was a huge last-to-first upset victory on March 27 in the $300,000 Sunland Park Oaks aboard Cleopatra’s Charge (#2) at 80-1. You can watch the replay of that race here, and you will want to.
“Carreno will bring out the best in me,” said Whitehall. “Top competition always does.”
The 2022 Assiniboia Downs meeting begins May 23 and races on a Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday schedule with a post time of 7:30 p.m. CST.
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