Journeyman Jaime Rodriguez continued his sizzling summer by riding four winners Sunday at Laurel Park to hit the century mark and take over the lead in the summer meet jockey standings.
Rodriguez, 32, entered Sunday tied with Sheldon Russell and five-pound apprentice Axel Concepcion with eight wins apiece, then took the opener with 4-year-old gelding Vocalize ($10.20), trained by Horacio DePaz.
Russell won Race 2 Sunday aboard Kellan ($3), a 2-year-old filly making her second career start, before Rodriguez reeled off wins on Afandi ($6.60) in Race 5, Stern Chaser ($3.80) in Race 7 and Biogenic Babe ($4.80) in Race 8, the latter trained by Jamie Ness.
“I thought Jamie's filly ran really good,” Rodriguez said. “Everything was running good today and I'm very happy. Everything worked out right for me. It's a good day.”
It was the third multi-win performance for Rodriguez through the first nine days of the summer meet, which began June 9. He registered a hat trick June 23 and rode two winners June 18.
Laurel's winter meet riding champion, Rodriguez leads Russell, 12-9, in the standings. Rodriguez is also the leading rider at Delaware Park, 15-11, over Daniel Centeno. Rodriguez has topped the Delaware meet each of the past two years.
A native of Puerto Rico, Rodriguez has enjoyed a memorable first half of 2023. In addition to his first riding title in Maryland, he tied a Laurel Park record by riding seven winners on a single card March 17. Rodriguez also notched his 2,000th career victory June 15 at Delaware aboard Strugar, another Ness trainee.
Rodriguez now has 100 wins from 445 starters this year with $3.6 million in purse earnings.
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