Meet trainer, jockey titles come down to the wire
Published 4:53 pm Tuesday, September 10, 2024
- Born Flashy captured Sunday's final race at Kentucky Downs to give jockey Irad Ortiz five wins on the card.
FRANKLIN – With the final day of the 2024 Kentucky Downs meet looming Wednesday, Steve Asmussen and Joe Sharp are atop the trainer leader board in wins while Jose Ortiz has a narrow lead in the jockey standings.
Asmussen has sent out six winners and leads in purse earnings with $2,416,181 followed by Eddie Kenneally with $1,567,254 and Richard Mandella’s $1,505,940. Sharp also has six wins, all of them coming the first three days of the meet. Brendan Walsh and Wesley Ward each have four victories, followed by Saffie Joseph, Jr. and Bill Mott with three wins apiece.
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Both Asmussen and Sharp have three horses entered on closing day. Walsh has a chance to catch up or win with seven entries, though one is on the also-eligible list. Ward and Mott each have two, and Joseph has three.
Three-time meet riding champion Tyler Gaffalione and two-time champ Jose Ortiz entered the penultimate day of the meet on Sunday tied with seven wins apiece and Gaffalione leading in both top three placings (23 from 52 starts) and purse earnings (over $3 million). After exiting the 11-race card with one win between them, Ortiz leads the pack with eight going into Wednesday’s finale.
The story of the day Sunday belonged to Irad Ortiz, Jr., who chalked up five wins to run his total to seven, tying him with Gaffalione. In the process, Irad Ortiz vaulted to the top of earnings leaders with $3,781,140 in purses won after missing the first three days of the meet while riding at Saratoga. Gaffalione is second with $3,219,999.
In closest pursuit to the top three riders in the win category are Frankie Dettori with six; and Brian Hernandez, Jr. and Flavien Prat with four apiece.
Gaffalione was named on mounts in all 10 races Wednesday but his mount in race seven was an early scratch. Jose Ortiz and Irad Ortiz Jr. are lined up to ride eight, while Dettori has seven.
Hernandez remains the winningest jockey in Kentucky Downs history but Gaffalione, who is second in career wins at the track, has been gaining. They entered the current meet with 60 and 54 career wins, respectively, and now stand with Hernandez’s 64 wins still on top while Gaffalione has 61.
