Better rides. Bigger purses. That’s how Jareth Loveberry wants to benefit from his eye-popping performance at the Kentucky Derby in May.
But he can’t wait to return to the track where the foundation for his career as a jockey took place.
Loveberry is driving in from his home in the Chicago area to take part in the Northern Stars Turf Festival on Wednesday at Canterbury Park, where he has five mounts lined up. It will be his first appearance since a career-boosting second-place finish last month aboard Two Phil’s in the Kentucky Derby.
It will mean a lot to him to reconnect with as many folks around Canterbury as possible before and after the evening of racing at the Shakopee track.
“Just looking forward to meeting a lot of good people out there,” Loveberry said. “It’s like family, you always want to come back. I want to go up to the pressbox and see everybody up there and just see everybody I can. I had a lot of fun memories and won a lot of races there and met a lot of good people.”
Among his five rides is a reunion with She Can’t Sing in the $75,000 Lady Canterbury Stakes, a one-mile turf race. Loveberry won the race last year on the same horse, which is the 9-to-5 favorite this time around.
Loveberry’s week is full of reunions. In addition to his return to Canterbury, where he was the top jockey in 2017, he will be aboard Two Phil’s for the first time since Churchill Downs when they compete in the $500,000 Ohio Derby on Saturday at Thistledown. Loveberry is eager to see how Two Phil’s has developed since the Derby.
“I’ve been talking to his exercise rider,” Loveberry said. “He said he’s still getting better.”
Loveberry and Two Phil’s surged into the lead as they headed for the final stretch of the Derby. The Canterbury crowd, as it watched the telecast, roared that day with anticipation as Loveberry and Two Phil’s chased glory. But a late charge from Mage was too much for Two Phil’s.
The post-race analysts praised Loveberry for running a nearly flawless race. Two Phil’s simply got beat by a faster horse that day.
The compliments continued to flow in the days following the race. For a first-timer in the Derby, finishing second raises eyebrows, establishes credibility on the big stage and builds a reputation. For Loveberry, who is 35, married to Stacie and has two sons in Kennedy and Colton, it helps the career.
It was just last September when Loveberry and Two Phil’s were in the early stages of their relationship. By January, Loveberry believed he had a Derby-caliber horse. The pair have come a long way since then, with Loveberry overcoming a broken left fibula in March to boot.
“How much has [life] changed? It’s another day and you go back to work,” he said with a chuckle.
His time at Canterbury helped build him for the big moment. Loveberry said winning there, where he didn’t know many people and wasn’t familiar with the area, boosted his confidence that he could win anywhere. It’s why he’s eager to return to a place that was a key checkpoint during his journey.
Canterbury clusters its biggest races of the season on one weeknight, when fewer tracks are running and more quality riders are available. The event has drawn national interest. The last two Festivals have seen the largest handles in track history, $3.7 million in 2021 and $4.7 million last year.
Following the Ohio Derby, Loveberry will head to Toronto to race at Woodbine and hopes his success at the Derby will launch him into the jetstream where he will attract even better rides. He’s already scheduled to return to Kentucky in the coming weeks and hopes he’ll get better opportunities in the fall.
“I just want to keep this steady,” Loveberry said. “Keep good business going with the connections that I have. Just win races and take care of the family.”