Pick Pony Weekly Trainer & Jockey Spotlight — Week of June 29, 2026
Trainer Spotlight
The barn to beat this week belongs to Jamie Ness, who leads all trainers with 18 wins from 66 starts over the past 14 days, good for a 27.3% win rate and an impressive 41 ITM finishes. That ITM number is the highest on the board, suggesting Ness has horses ready to compete deep into the stretch even when they don't break on top — a sign of a barn firing on all cylinders. Not far behind in the win column is Jason Olmstead with 16 wins from 77 starts, though his 20.8% strike rate points to a higher-volume operation best approached selectively. The real eye-opener, however, is Kevin Eikleberry, whose 9 wins from just 17 starts translates to a jaw-dropping 52.9% win rate — the best among all trainers listed. When Eikleberry sends a horse postward, it wins more than half the time. His 15 ITM finishes from those 17 starts means his runners are virtually always in the money. Also deserving of a close look is Perry Cavanaugh, who mirrors that efficiency with a 46.7% win rate (7 wins from 15 starts), and Steve Williams at 40.0% (8 wins from 20 starts). These smaller-volume, high-efficiency barns are exactly the type that generate outsized value when their odds don't reflect their current form.
Jockey Spotlight
In the irons department, P. Lopez is the undisputed leader, posting 25 wins from 86 starts at a 29.1% win rate with 53 horses hitting the board — the top marks in both raw wins and ITM across the entire jockey leaderboard. Lopez is clearly the busiest rider running hot right now, and backing him blindly over this stretch would have been profitable. Right behind in wins are E. Gonzalez and Y. Hazlewood, both at 18 wins, though Gonzalez edges Hazlewood in win percentage (24.7% vs. 22.5%) while both show elite ITM numbers of 49 and 48 respectively. The efficiency award on the jockey side goes to J. Barbosa, who has converted 14 of 44 mounts into wins — a 31.8% strike rate — while K.J. Coa is riding at a blistering 37.9% clip with 11 wins from just 29 starts. Like their trainer counterparts, Barbosa and Coa represent the kind of selective-but-scorching form that handicappers should not overlook when their horses go to post at value prices.
This Week’s Watch List
Three combinations stand out as must-watch setups heading into the coming week. First, keep a sharp eye on any Eikleberry-trained horse ridden by Lopez or Barbosa — pairing the nation's hottest trainer by win percentage with two of the hottest jockeys by efficiency creates a layup scenario where everything is working in your favor. Second, Cavanaugh paired with Coa is a combo worth circling, as both are operating above 37–47% win rates with manageable start totals, meaning neither is spreading themselves thin. Finally, don't sleep on Jamie Ness runners under any of the top three jockeys — Ness's sheer volume of wins (18) combined with his elite ITM rate (41 from 66) makes him the safest foundation bet of the week. The data is clear: these connections are hot, and in racing, you ride the wave while it lasts.
