The 4-year-old gelding covered six furlongs on the main track in 1:12.25 in the claiming event for 3-, 4- and 5-year-old maidens and comes one day after Forest Boyce marked 1000 wins in the saddle at Laurel.

“I'm delighted for everybody that's helped get to this point. It's all about the team,” he said. “A thousand winners, a lot of people helped get there. A lot of owners and horses in 30-odd years of doing this. It's my name on there but it's because everybody did their part. We're delighted.”

Lynch, 49, came to the U.S. in 1996 from Northern Ireland at the age of 19 after gaining experience training off his father's farm. His younger brother, former English apprentice champion Feargal, rides on the Maryland circuit.

According to Equibase statistics, Lynch's first training win came with Aneissa Chocolate Apr. 11, 1997, at old Garden State Park in New Jersey, winning his first stakes with Holiest Punch in the 2001 Bold Josh Handicap at The Meadowlands. He spent 12 years based at Parx before relocating to Maryland in 2016.

Lynch has won the first of his three graded-stakes with Javerre (Outflanker) in the 2013 GIII General George S. at Laurel. The other two came in the 2017 GIII Jerome S. and GIII Withers S. with El Areeb, who missed the Triple Crown series after suffering a knee fracture after running third in the Gotham.

“We're not done yet,” Lynch added. “I'll [look back] that when we're sitting on a beach in Florida in like 20 more years. Right now, we'll enjoy today. I just got back from the barn doing the feed. We'll be back out there tomorrow morning and the day I don't want to do that, that's the day I'll start looking back. We have a lot of really nice young horses coming in and a good barn full of horses here. I'm very, very lucky to be able to do this every day.”

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“They told me (about the chance for No. 1,000) in the paddock, I had no idea. If I'd have known that, he's a jinx, I'd have put someone else on the horse,” Miyadi said, joking. Miyadi followed it up with:

“No, he's a good kid. He started working for me when he was a boy. His dad worked for me and didn't want him to be a jockey, and I respected that. But here we are 1,000 wins later. I know the whole family – mom, dad, sisters, brothers – it's a family affair.”

Even so, don't even think about putting Miyadi in the sentimentalist category.

“I've never given him a compliment after he wins a race for me, and that rule still stands,” Miyadi said.

Frey got his 999th win on November 12 but had zero wins last weekend and a runner-up finish in Friday's first race before cracking the milestone by taking Tizlightning, a 2-year-old Lori Gallegos California homebred, wire to wire and narrowly holding off the late charge of Bright Leaf and apprentice Emily Ellingwood at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

“It means a lot,” Frye said. “It was a long road, but hopefully the next thousand will come a little quicker. It means a lot to win it for Steve. I talked to my dad a week or so ago and he (remarked) about how great it would be to get it for Steve. It's pretty cool.”

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Canchari said that he plans to ride the entire Oaklawn meet (Dec. 3-May 8) in pursuit of his 1,000th career victory. Canchari has 981 career victories, according to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization, including 198 at Oaklawn.

“I'm just going to try to work hard and hopefully have a good meet,” Canchari said during training hours Friday morning at Oaklawn. “I'll try to ride a little bit for everybody.”

Canchari, 27, said he arrived Thursday in Hot Springs after riding the past month at Mahoning Valley in Ohio. Despite missing the first month of the 2021 Oaklawn meeting – the jockey was riding at Turfway Park – Canchari amassed $621,716 in purse earnings, the bulk coming from victories aboard Carlos L. in the $150,000 Temperence Hill Stakes for older horses at 1 ½ miles and aboard Sir Wellington in the $150,000 Gazebo Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters. Both victories were for Canchari's longtime client, trainer Mac Robertson.

Canchari has ridden regularly at Oaklawn since 2012 and set a single-season personal best in Hot Springs with 45 victories in 2017, when he tied for third in the standings. Canchari has nine stakes victories and $8,370,423 in purse earnings in his Oaklawn career.

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With jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. wearing Kenneally's navy silks emblazoned with a beige K, the newly gelded He's Pretty Lucky pressed front-running favorite Futuro before dispatching that rival late in the stretch. Just when Kenneally's milestone seemed in the bag, Stone Slinger loomed on the outside and appeared poised to go past before coming up a head short in the off-the-turn mile $10,000 maiden-claiming race. It was He's Pretty Lucky's second race for the ownership partnership of Kenneally and Shaun McCarthy.

“Let me tell you, they'll all hard to win,” Kenneally said after the winner's circle presentation. “We were hoping to knock it out at Churchill, because that's our home track. But we're delighted to get it done here at Ellis Park. We finally got over the milestone. It took a long time. I've been doing this a long time.

“We've been fortunate. We've had some very good horses over the years. We've had some very good people work for us. Not just now, but in the past we've had a lot of good people come through. You can't do it on your own. You need the help, you need the horses. It's got to be set up. Thankfully we've had a very good career.”

The Irish-born Kenneally's first full year of training was 1994. His 35 graded-stakes victories include Grade 1 wins with Kelly's Landing (Dubai Golden Shaheen), Bradester (Stephen Foster), Bushfire (Ashland, Acorn, Mother Goose), Sailor's Valentine (Ashland), and Abscond (Natalma).

Kenneally's horses have earned more than $42 million in purses.

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“It's a big achievement for me,” Perez told The Racing Biz. “It's been ups and downs – more ups than downs. I had a couple of bad years, but it was just a little bump in the road. I went through it, and I'm here. I'm here.”

The 33-year-old native of Puerto Rico began his riding career at Charles Town, and moved to Maryland in 2011. His career-defining horse came in 2013 when he piloted Dance to Bristol to seven consecutive victories, including the G1 Ballerina at Saratoga.

Perez won just 22 races in both 2016 and 2017, but bounced back to double and then triple that total in the next two years.

His 1,000 victories have come from 8,134 mounts, with earnings approaching $26 million.

Read more at The Racing Biz and in this Maryland Jockey Club feature about the jockey.

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“I've been counting,” Perez, 33, said. “I told my wife, 'Look I'm getting close. It's coming. It's coming.' She was like, 'Don't start thinking about it.' So I said, 'I'm superstitious and I'm going to count it because I've been counting since I had 50 left and it's been working out for me.”

According to Equibase statistics, the count stands at 995 wins with mounts in four of nine races when live action returns to historic Pimlico Race Course Friday to kick off a Memorial Day weekend program that includes a special holiday card Monday, May 31. Perez also had one mount in Delaware Park's 10th race finale Wednesday.

Perez would be the second jockey to reach 1,000 wins in Maryland this year, following Carol Cedeno Jan. 2 at Laurel Park. Perez and Cedeno grew up together in Puerto Rico and were classmates at the country's famed Escuela Vocacional Hipica, graduating in 2006 and beginning their professional careers in 2007.

“We are childhood friends. It meant a lot to me that she got that milestone, and now that I'm getting close to it I'm getting anxious. I just want to do it,” Perez said. “A thousand wins is a big milestone. It means a lot for every rider in the country and the world.”

Perez rode the winter and spring of 2007 in Puerto Rico before coming to the U.S. that summer, registering his first career winner aboard Danger Quest Aug. 25, 2007 at Charles Town, where another former classmate, Arnaldo Bocachica, had urged him to start.

“He is one of my best friends and he contacted me when I started riding. He told me he was talking to his agent and was telling him about me,” Perez said. “He said I didn't have to bring anything, just my tack. I had a place to stay and a fresh start. That meant a lot. I'm blessed that he's in my life. He's been an amazing brother and amazing friend to me.”

Represented by agent J.D. Brown, Perez rode 3 ½ years at Charles Town – winning the $500,000 West Virginia Breeders' Cup Classic in 2010 with 57-1 long shot Sea Rescue – before moving to Maryland at the start of 2011. That fall, he won a total of 32 races for 20 different trainers at Laurel with an average win mutuel of $14.75.

The first big horse of Perez's career was Susan Wantz's Dance to Bristol, trained by Ollie Figgins III. During the winter, spring and summer of 2013 they won seven consecutive races including the Skipat at Pimlico, Bed o'Roses (G3) at Belmont Park, and Honorable Miss (G2) and Ballerina (G1) at Saratoga – the jockey's first graded triumphs. They would end the year finishing sixth in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita.

Perez's most memorable ride came earlier that year, gaining national attention for a mid-April trip aboard Spicer Cub that saw the gelding blow Pimlico's far turn while on the lead, then bolt suddenly to the outside fence and around the parked starting gate before making a mad dash to the wire and finishing second by a nose. Perez lost both his irons in the process.

“That pushed me to have the campaign that I had. After Spicer Cub, a lot of trainers and owners were asking for me, and me and my agent were really busy. We were going to New York, Monmouth Park, Philadelphia, Colonial Downs, Charles Town. We were riding everywhere on the East Coast. It was a great year,” Perez said. “Still people talk about it. It makes me feel good. I got famous for something that was crazy. It was a jump start for me.”

Perez finished 2013 with 133 wins and $3.8 million in purse earnings, both of which remain career highs. He won his last graded-stakes with Bandbox in the 2014 General George (G3) at Laurel, and in recent years has been part of a formidable team with trainer John 'Jerry' Robb that has put him aboard multiple stakes winners Anna's Bandit and Street Lute as well as Anna's Bandit's 2-year-old half-sister, Bandits Warrior, a debut winner May 23 at Pimlico.

Street Lute has raced 10 times with seven wins, six in stakes, and Perez has been aboard for each of her last seven races including five of her stakes victories. Anna's Bandit owns 17 wins from 36 starts and Perez has accounted for 14 of her wins and 10 of her 11 stakes triumphs, riding in 30 of her last 31 races.

“Dance to Bristol was a special horse to me because it gave me my first graded races,” Perez said. “I didn't have the chance to get on her in the morning like I do with these three mares. I'm there at 5:30 in the morning with Jerry's horses. I take my time with Anna. I take my time with Street Lute. I take my time with Bandits Warrior, and it's paying off. It means so much to me to get the chance to ride such amazing animals.”

Perez had 58 wins in Maryland in a coronavirus pandemic-shortened 2020, 41 of them in 157 starts (26 percent) for Robb – the most of any jockey-trainer combination on the year – including Robb's 2,000th career victory with Stroll Smokin at Laurel. This year they are 19-for-63 (30 percent) together at Laurel and Pimlico.

“He's at the barn every morning, he's getting on them, he knows the horses. I think that means a lot, especially with young horses,” Robb said. “He gets on all the horses. He doesn't get on them all every day, but he gets on all of them at one time or another and he knows them. I think that plays a big role in it.”

Other top horses for Perez have included multiple stakes winners Sensible Lady and Talk Show Man and 2015 Maryland Million Distaff winner Lionhearted Lady. Perez's mounts have earned more than $25.6 million in purses.

“It would mean so much if I get to do it in Maryland, because the people in Maryland have been so great to me,” Perez said. “I have to say thanks to all the trainers that have supported me, riding me the 11 wonderful years I've been in Maryland. My agent has always been right there with me keeping me on the right path. He knows me well. Jerry and the whole team, they've been so amazing to me. They are like family to me. Me and my wife are so blessed and thankful to have such great people around us. I hope it stays like that for a while.”

Perez credits his wife, Jessica, for helping his maturity on and off the track. They met in 2009 when she was ponying the horse he was riding to the starting gate at Colonial Downs and have been together since.

“Thank God I have my wife beside me, 24-7. She's always supported me and she never lets me get too down when I have bad days,” Perez said. “It's been a great journey. There's been ups and downs, but there's been more ups than downs and I'm just grateful for that.”

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Riding for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella in the Wishing Well Stakes, the feature on Presidents' Day, Prat guided Superstition to a 1-1/2 furlong victory in 1:14.22 over 6-1/2 furlongs on the turf.

On Saturday, trainer Phil D'Amato tapped Prat to ride Charmaine's Mia for the first time in the Grade 2 Buena Vista a one mile turf test. Stretching out for the first time, Charmaine's Mia got the distance in 1:33.93.

“She broke sharp,” said Prat. “She's really fast out of the gate and I wanted to be on the lead, but the inside horse (Bohemian Bourbon) was pulling very hard, so we were in second, which was a good place to be. When we made the lead at the quarter pole, she got a good breather and from there, she finished really well.”

Prat was given a leg up on Bella Vita by trainer Simon Callaghan in the Spring Fever Stakes on Sunday. Heavily favored in the field of six, Bella Vita was in control the entire trip making short work of her rivals as she powered to a 4-1/2 length win.

“I thought I was on the best horse and I was,” said Prat. She broke well and we got a good position up close. She was push button and she did it on her own.”

French-born Prat, Santa Anita's reigning Winter/Spring Champion Jockey and current meet leader, registered his 1,000th North American victory on Feb. 19. In a remarkable span of about six years, he has collected 11 Southern California riding titles and is currently tied for 13th with retired Hall of Famer Donald Pierce on Santa Anita's all-time Winter/Spring stakes won list with 99 to date.

“It means a lot, it's a big achievement,” said Prat. “(Looking to the future) I hope to do as good as I have done. I don't want to be satisfied with what I've done, I want to try to improve. I've been lucky to have been on a lot of good horses…They all have a place in my heart.”

Prat's weekly stats included 12 wins from 26 mounts for a win percentage of 46% and 73% in-the-money percentage. He led all jockeys in purses won with $553,440.

He out polled fellow jockeys Eric Cancel with a stakes victory, Isaias Enriquez with two stakes victories, Horacio Karamanos with a graded stakes win and Sheldon Russell with two stakes victories.

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With a three-win day on Monday and 11 wins that included two stakes over the four-day Presidents' Day holiday, Prat entered Friday's festivities with 998 career wins. Victorious in today's opener aboard Bob Baffert's 2-5 favorite Du Jour, Prat wasted little time in reaching number 1,000 as he guided Wong's 3-5 favorite Clockstrikestwelve to a last to first triumph in race two, winning by 2 ¼ lengths.

Born Aug. 4, 1992 in Melun, France, Prat, the son of a trainer, won the 2019 Kentucky Derby via disqualification aboard the William Mott-trained Country House and is currently atop the Santa Anita rider standings with 32 wins, three more than Juan Hernandez, with 25 full days of racing completed. Also in 2019, Prat also became only the third jockey to ever win the Kentucky Derby and Canada's championship race for 3-year-olds, the Queen's Plate, in the same year, joining Bill Hartack (1964) and Kent Desormeaux (1998).

“It means a lot, it's a big achievement,” said Prat following today's second race. “I wasn't dreaming of that when I came here (from France) to be honest with you and I didn't think it would happen so quickly. It felt like yesterday that I got here and started riding…

“(Looking to the future) I hope to do as good as I have done. I don't want to be satisfied with what I've done, I want to try to improve. I think there's room for improvement…It's nice, it's been a lot of support from my family and the trainers and owners, all the connections. It's something I share with everybody. I've been lucky to have been on a lot of good horses…They all have a place in my heart.”

Clockstrikestwelve, a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred mare by New Year's Day who had won her last four starts, three of them at Golden Gate Fields, was saddled by trainer Kristin Mulhall and paid $3.20 to win.

Prat, who as a teenager, worked full-time during the winter mornings for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella and split riding time between Santa Anita and his native France, registered his first Santa Anita win at age 17 on Jan. 15, 2010 aboard the Suzanne Rodriguez-trained Heavenly n' Free, who paid $103.40 to win.

In a move that surprised many in the racing industry, Prat announced last week that he was parting company with his longtime agent Derek Lawson and that he had hired veteran agent Brad Pegram, who will now represent both Prat and Mike Smith.

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He was extremely close to clinching the owner title for himself, needing one more win to eliminate Steve Asmussen going into the ninth race. Caldwell's horse Hansens Mischief crossed the finish line first but was disqualified for bumping the runner-up Euromantic in the stretch. Now, Asmussen at 24 wins, must win with all three of his starters on closing day Tuesday, and Caldwell would have to lose with all five of his entrants for there to be a tie. If one Asmussen-owned horse loses, Caldwell, who already has 27 wins, would be the solo winner.

Caldwell has entered Popfly Two Six (9-2 morning line odds) in the third, Off Sixes (6-1) in the fourth, Touching Rainbows (9-2) in the seventh, Beauty Day (5-1) in the eighth and Something Super (6-1) in the ninth. Asmussen has horses in race one with Princess Asya (2-1), race four with Don't Forget (2-1) and race eight with Upgrade Me (5-2).

Caldwell, who has won 370 times at Remington Park, also won his 1,000th career race as a Thoroughbred owner on Monday afternoon, according to Equibase stats. That came with his first win of the day, taking the fifth with Unlawful Assembly (7-5) with jockey Ramon Vazquez riding for trainer Federico Villafranco. Vazquez has won for Caldwell 216 times at Remington, by far the most of any jockeys. Sophie Doyle was the winning rider aboard Forty Nine Model (3-1) in the eighth, Caldwell's 370th and 1,001st, respectively in those categories. Caldwell's Thoroughbred horses in his career have earned $19,714,997 from 4,904 starts.

“I really appreciate Remington Park for everything they've done for me and the horsemen,” said Caldwell. “I'm so glad I got 1,000 here. It's a pleasure to do it at my home track.”

Leading rider David Cabrera also had a stellar day, winning four times to surpass his all-time best mark at Remington Park. He now is four wins away from 100 for the meet with eight mounts remaining Tuesday. His 96 wins this meet also is a personal best in winning his last three titles here. He had 95 in 2018 and 83 last year when he was top jock.

Cabrera's horse's earnings surpassed the $2 million mark for the third year in a row. He had a best $2,377,944 in 2018; $2,159,916 for 2019, and stands at $2,026,684 for 2020 going into Tuesday's races. His four winners Monday, Martz's Mae ($4.40 to win) in the second, Absaroka ($5) in the sixth, Shifty Henry ($3.60) in the seventh and Tell Me Boo Boo ($3.40) in the 10th, and a fifth place horse in another race gave his mounts $28,104 for the day.

Also Tuesday, Jearl “Ace” Hare hung up his tack as a trainer, sending out the final horse of his career – Sandy Crest in the 10th. In his racing career, the trainer, since 1991, had 2,142 starters, 228 winners, 249 seconds and 279 thirds for earnings of $2.96 million.

The final race date of the 2020 Thoroughbred Season takes place Tuesday, Dec. 22, with the first of 10 races underway at Noon-Central.

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Wethey gives credit for reaching the milestone to the support of those around him and riding for 14 years, relatively without injury.

“I started riding when I was 17 and I had always hoped to reach milestones like this,” said Wethey, who calls both Bluejacket, Okla. and Oklahoma City his homes. “It's a great milestone and not a whole lot of people do it. I've had a lot of help. I thank the good Lord that I have so many friends and family that support me.”

Wethey went straight to the lead in the irons of Elijah Anet and made every pole a winning one in the 5 1/2-furlong race for claiming $7,500 Oklahoma-bred horses, 3-years-old and older. They covered the distance with fractions of :21.98 seconds for the first quarter-mile, :45.48 for the half-mile and :57.93 for five furlongs before winning in a time of 1:04.64. The betting public sent the 4-year-old gelding by Silver City, out of the Anet mare Sister Anet, off at 5-2 odds and he paid $7.80 to win, $4.40 to place and $3.80 to show.

“I've ridden a lot of great horses that gave me thrills, winning Oklahoma Classics races and other stakes,” said Wethey. “I had Reel Chrome, Steal Your Face and Okie Ride and they all are very special. Hey, I even get attached to the claimers. Reel Chrome, she was tough as nails.”

He will certainly always remember one claimer, Elijah Anet.

“The meet has been great so far; (agent) Bubba (Wood) has gotten me on some good horses and I've been lucky enough to win a few,” he said. “Looking back, I've won two or three riding titles at Claremore (Will Rogers Downs) and three or four in Tulsa (Fair Meadows. I'm just going to keep on keeping on.”

Wethey began riding in 2007, winning 21 races his first year and $198,195. He quickly boosted that to 83 wins the next year with his horses winning $1,342,941. Twelve of the 14 years of riding his horses have surpassed $1 million in earnings. His biggest year came in 2018 when they banked $2,040,568. He has surpassed 100 wins in a year twice – 109 in 2009 and 103 in 2017.

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