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Mr Jefferson Gives Trainer Mike Trombetta His 2,000th Career Victory

R. Larry Johnson's homebred 2-year-old colt Mr Jefferson slipped through an opening along the rail in mid-stretch and outran stablemate Bold Leader to give trainer Mike Trombetta his 2,000th career victory in Thursday's featured eighth race at Laurel Park.

Ridden by Mychel Sanchez, Mr Jefferson ($14.20) completed about 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.43 over a fast main track to win the optional claiming allowance for juveniles by 1 ½ lengths. Street Hustle was third with pacesetting 3-5 favorite Mr. Mox fourth.

“It's really, really cool,” Trombetta said. “I didn't expect to be one-two in the race, by any means. I was hoping just to hit the board, honestly, but it was nice to get this kind of result.”

Trombetta, who turned 55 last week, is the second Maryland-based trainer to reach a career milestone at Laurel this fall. Claudio Gonzalez, the state's annual leading trainer since 2017, earned his 1,000th win with He's a Shooter Oct. 14.

A Baltimore native that maintains strings at both Laurel and the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., Trombetta had 1,993 wins heading into the month of October. He earned No. 1,999 with Conclusive Oct. 31 at Laurel and was off the board with his only other starter Thursday, U S Constitution, in Race 5.

“I was hoping it'd happen this year, by the way things were going,” Trombetta joked. “It's all good.”

Mr Jefferson, by Constitution, was making his fourth career start and first with blinkers. He is 2-0 on the dirt, having broken his maiden Aug. 25 at Colonial Downs, and finished off the board in a pair of turf starts.

Perennially one of the top trainers in Maryland who is also a player on the national stage, Trombetta has topped $1 million in purse earnings every year since 2005 and at least $3 million since 2007, with a career bankroll of more than $68.4 million.

Introduced to horses through his father, Trombetta began walking hots as a teenager and steadily worked his way up the ladder to becoming a trainer. His first winner came with Amant De Cour in 1986 at defunct Atlantic City Race Course in New Jersey.

The MTHA Trainer of the Year in 2005, Trombetta burst on the national scene with Sweetnorthernsaint, an ex-claimer turned Grade 2 winner who went off as the Kentucky Derby (G1) favorite in 2006 and ran second to champion Bernardini in the Preakness (G1). Among his local stakes wins were the 2006 Miracle Wood and 2007 Harrison E. Johnson Memorial at Laurel.

Other stakes horses for Trombetta include 2020 Forego (G1) winner Win Win Win, 2019 Highlander (G1) winner Wet Your Whistle, 2012 Nearctic (G1) winner Next Question, 2009 Commonwealth (G3) winner Eternal Star, 2009 Carry Back (G2) winner Not for Silver and Grade 3 winners Weigelia, Control System, Jimanator, Despite the Odds, Street Magician, Souper Escape, Global Access, Independence Hall.

Trombetta won Laurel's 2019 spring stand and shared the 2015 winter meet title with Claudio Gonzalez, to whom he has finished second in annual Maryland wins each of the past two years. He also ranks among the all-time leading trainers in Maryland Million history with eight wins.

On Friday, Trombetta has three horses entered in two of nine races at Laurel as well as a pair of stakes out of town – Biz Biz Buzz in the Atlantic Beach at Belmont Park and Can't Buy Love in the Cellars Shiraz at Gulfstream Park.

“I have a horse in the stake in New York tomorrow we're real excited about. He broke his maiden here,” Trombetta said. “Maybe we can get started with 2,001 tomorrow.”

Notes: Jockey Mychel Sanchez doubled Thursday aboard Askin for a Baskin ($2.40) in Race 3 and Mr Jefferson ($14.20) in Race 8. J.D. Acosta also had two winners, Gentleman Joe ($12.60) in Race 5 and Beneath the Stars ($19.60) in Race 9 … There will be carryovers of $3,940.62 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 and $1,050.94 in the $1 Super Hi-5 for Friday's nine-race card. Post time is 12:25 p.m.

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‘Exciting Stuff’: Trainer Mike Trombetta Closing In On 2,000-Win Milestone

As fate would have it, Mike Trombetta has the opportunity to celebrate two milestones in the same week.

Perennially one of the top trainers in Maryland who is also a player on the national stage, Trombetta turned 55 on Tuesday. The Baltimore native stands just two shy of 2,000 career wins, which he can reach as soon as Thursday when live racing returns to Laurel Park.

Trombetta has three horses entered in two of Laurel's nine races Thursday – 3-year-old gelding Mr Mosley in the opener for maidens 3, 4 and 5 going 1 1/16 miles on the Bowl Game turf course, and both Fifteen Royals and Ellanation in the seventh, an optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on the Exceller layout.

In addition, Trombetta will be represented by 3-year-old filly Imagery in Thursday's sixth race at Woodbine, a six-furlong optional claimer on the grass where she is the narrow 3-1 program favorite. On Friday, Trombetta has five horses entered in four races on Laurel's nine-race card.

“We're trying to get there. We have a little bit more to do with it. We need two more. It's exciting stuff,” Trombetta said, adding that it “would be cool” to get No. 2,000 at home in Maryland. “I can't really control it, but maybe it will work out that way. It would be a lot of fun.”

According to Equibase statistics, Trombetta's 1,998 wins have come from 11,238 career starters, including 91-for-581 this year. He has reached more than $1 million in purse earnings every year since 2005 and at least $3 million since 2007, with a career bankroll approaching $68.3 million.

“Time goes by so fast, as we all know. Fortunately, I still enjoy this a whole lot and that makes it fun,” Trombetta said. “When those times do come up and you reflect a little bit, I'm grateful that I've been able to do this as an occupation.”

Based primarily at Laurel and the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., Trombetta runs horses up and down the East Coast. He spends part of the summer in Saratoga and winter in South Florida, and this year branched out with a small string at Delaware Park.

“We had a few more than we could fit at the other two places [Laurel and Fair Hill],” Trombetta said. “So, we get scattered about and that makes it a little bit more challenging for all of us, but that's part of the game.”

Trombetta's introduction to horses came from his father, at tracks such as historic Pimlico Race Course and the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, and he steadily worked his way up the ladder to becoming a trainer.

“My dad owned some horses when I was a teenager and I got some exposure to it that way. I liked the sport and I liked the horses, and I got an opportunity to start working with them a little bit,” he said. “I was walking hots when I was 13 years old and I was grooming horses by the time I was 15. When I was in school I did school, but when I wasn't in school I was at the track.”

Trombetta's first winner came in 1986 with Amant De Cour at Atlantic City Race Course in New Jersey, which closed in 2015. He picked up No. 1,000 Nov. 27, 2011 at Charles Town with Allwewantforxmas.

For his career, Trombetta said 'The Saint' meant “everything. That was a turning point for me. That's when we went from just doing this job to everybody kind of getting a chance to know who we were, and that meant the world to us. That just put fuel on the fire that I could have never expected.”

Over the years, Trombetta has had some major owners as clients such as Live Oak Plantation, R. Larry Johnson and the Meyerhoff family, best known for campaigning Hall of Famer Spectacular Bid.

“We've had a lot of good owners for a lot of years, and we're obviously very grateful to them,” Trombetta said. “It's a team effort. Everybody works so hard. To think about all the people that get up at 3:30 or 4 o'clock in the morning to do this job, it's pretty amazing stuff. I can't say enough. These guys work tremendously hard for us. They're very dedicated. I've had some really good people for a lot of years, and I'm grateful to have them.”

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Wesley Ward Celebrates ‘Humbling’ Milestone Of 2,000 Career Wins

Trainer Wesley Ward, 53, recorded his 2,000th-career win Thursday night at Churchill Downs when Ken and Sarah Ramsey's Gold for Kitten rallied for a rail-skimming victory in Race 6 under jockey Chris Landeros.

“I was actually moving a bunch of mares and foals from one place to another at my farm in Lexington when it happened,” Ward told the Daily Racing Form. “It's a great accomplishment, very humbling.”

Ward was born into a racing family, according to the Keeneland media guide. His father, Dennis, is a former jockey who is now a trainer and occasionally saddles horses for his son. His grandfather, Jim Dailey, was a steeplechase rider and later a popular outrider in New York for 29 years.

Ward began riding at age 12, competing at fairs in Washington, Alberta, British Columbia and Montana. On the day he turned 16, the junior in high school began riding at Aqueduct with Lenny Goodman as his agent. Goodman, a friend of Jim Dailey's, previously handled the books of Steve Cauthen and Declan Murphy. Though he didn't win any races that day, Ward won five in the next three days.

Recipient of the 1984 Eclipse Award as outstanding apprentice, Ward later rode in Italy, Singapore and Malaysia. He retired in 1989, tired of battling weight. He began training in 1991.

Ward became the first American trainer to saddle a winner at Royal Ascot in 2009 when Strike the Tiger won the Windsor Castle at odds of 33-1. The next day, he sent out Jealous Again to win the Queen Mary (G2).

In total, Ward has sent out 11 winners at the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting: 2013 Norfolk (G2) with No Nay Never; 2014 Windsor Castle with Hootenanny; 2015 Diamond Jubilee (G1) with Undrafted and Queen Mary (G2) with Acapulco; 2016 Queen Mary (G2) with Lady Aurelia; 2017 King's Stand (G1) with Lady Aurelia and Sandringham (L) with Con Te Partiro; 2018 Norfolk (G2) with Shang Shang Shang; and 2020 Queen Mary with Campanelle.

His training resume also includes four Breeders' Cup victories: 2014 Juveneile Turf with Hootenanny; 2014 Filly & Mare Turf with Judy the Beauty; 2019 Juvenile Turf Sprint with Four Wheel Drive; and 2020 Juvenile Turf Sprint with Golden Pal.

In 2021, Ward saddled his first Kentucky Derby starter with Like the King, who finished 12th.

Ward's 2,000 North American wins include 50 graded stakes victories and purse earnings of more than $71.8 million.

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Arnaldo Bocachica Rides 2,000th Winner, Voted Jockey of The Week

The perennial leading rider at Charles Town, Arnaldo Bocachica, won his final race on March 6 aboard Never Compromise to reach an even 2,000 wins in his career and earn Jockey of the Week honors for March 1 through March 7. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.

The personable, quiet, hard-working journeyman jockey has led the jockey standings at Charles Town in both wins and purse earnings the last three years. He currently leads the meet with 52 wins and $788,326 in earnings. He rides first call on many of leading Charles Town trainer Jeff Runco's starters.

“A big congratulations to my main man Arnaldo Bocachica and his agent Billy Kennedy on his 2,000th win,” said Runco on Twitter.

“Thank you boss for the support over the years,” Bocachica replied. “I'm grateful to be part of the Runco team.”

Bocachica's weekly stats included 10 wins from 23 mounts for a 43.4% win percentage and 78% in-the-money percentage. He tied for second with number of wins for the week. His total purse earnings were $154,113.

Bocachica out-polled fellow riders apprentice Alexis Centeno who won his first graded race, Jose Ferrer who won the Gr. II Tampa Bay Derby, Irad Ortiz, Jr. who won the most races for the week with 14, and Joel Rosario who won the Gr. I Santa Anita Handicap.

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