The ageless wonder, jockey Perry Wayne Ouzts, reached another milestone on Friday's closing-day program at Belterra Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, when he rode Wine Me Up Baby to a wire-to-wire 3 1/4-length victory in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies. Wine Me Up Baby, an Ohio-bred by Kantharos, is trained by Michael Evans II for Sheltowee Farm.
The win was No. 7,142 for the 66-year-old Ouzts, moving the Arkansas native past Chris McCarron as the sixth all-time winningest jockey in North American racing. It was Ouzts' 76th win of the Belterra meet from 406 mounts, placing him second behind John McKee (90 wins) in the rider standings. Ouzts is winning at an 18% clip in 2020, having ridden 76 of his 411 mounts to victory. Earlier this year, on June 25, Ouzts rode five winners on an eight-race card at Belterra Park
Ouzts began his riding career in 1973, the year Secretariat won the Triple Crown, scoring his first victory in March of that year at defunct Beulah Park near Columbus, Ohio. He won 11 riding titles at Beulah and 18 at River Downs, the Cincinnati track that's been replaced by Belterra.
Ouzts is the winningest active rider in North American racing.
The top 10 all-time North American jockeys by wins are: Russell Baze (12,842); Laffit Pincay Jr. (9,530); William Shoemaker (8,833); Pat Day (8,803); David Gall (7,396); Perry Ouzts (7,142); Chris McCarron (7,141); Edgar Prado (7,078); Angel Cordero Jr. (7,057); and Mario Pino (6,959).
Prado and Pino are the only other active riders in the top 10.
Ouzts is one of three riders in the top 10 who have not been inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame, along with Gall (who rode at Fairmount Park in Illinois) and Pino (who rides primarily in the Mid-Atlantic).
The post Ouzts Passes McCarron On All-Time List With 7,142nd Win appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
