Contact Information:
Bob Roberts (216-662-8600)
July 24, 2008
www.thistledown.com
Louis Stokes, despite being winless in three tries on the getaway program, claimed his first ever riding championship as the 56-day Summit-Thistledown Meeting concluded Thursday (July 17th) at Thistledown. Stokes, 29, a native of Lafayette, La., won 38 races. Weldon Cloninger, Jr. and Jeffrey Skerrett, co-champions at last year's corresponding meeting, finished second and third with 36 and 35 winners, respectively.
"It feels great to win my first title, a lot better than last year," said Stokes, who suffered four cracked ribs and a punctured lung, the result of an early season spill at Thistledown.
Jeff Radosevich won the Summit-Thistledown Meeting training title with 34 winners. Rodney Faulkner was second with 29 winners. For Radosevich, the championship is his 12th at Thistledown. He is the only horseman in track history to be champion jockey as well as trainer. Radosevich was the leading rider in 1988.
Both horsemen were honored in winner's circle ceremonies today (Thursday, July 24th). Thistledown's 66-day season-ending Randall-Cranwood Meeting began July 18 and runs through Oct. 25.
FEMALE JOCKEYS SWEEP THISTLE SUPERFECTA
Thursday's (July 17th) 11th race at Thistledown was one for the record book as female jockeys finished first, second, third and fourth, thus grabbing all four spots in the popular superfecta wager.
Kirsten Swan, the 18-year-old Chagrin Falls High senior, won the race aboard Wegotta, with Tiny Facts, ridden by Patricia Trimble, second, Numerically, with Anne Sanguinetti up, third, and Lady Spirit, ridden by Jane Magrell, fourth. The $2 superfecta, Swan to Trimble to Sanguinetti to Magrell, paid $193.20.
THE NUMBERS -- The season-opening 56-day Summit-Thistledown Meeting saw two female riders finish in the top 10. Anne Sanguinetti was sixth with 21 winners and Jane Magrell was tied for eighth with 19 winners . . .The ageless Tommy Meyers, who'll turn 63 in August, rode eight winners during the opening meeting and tied for 17th in the standings . . . Four apprentice riders competed during the Summit-Thistle stand --- Kirsten Swan, Carlos Garcia, Joyce Brown and Marcelo Cardozo Martinez -- and the 18-year-old Swan was the only one of them to win a race. In fact, she won four races from just 23 mounts . . . While Jeff Radosevich was the leading overall trainer, the leading female trainer was Sandra Adkins, who scored with eight of her 29 starters. Robin Schuster was second among the ladies with seven victories . . . The most successful trainers with limited numbers of starters were Adolfo Exposito (7 winners from 15 starters) and Nabu Morales and Bobby Guciardo (both 5-for 10) . . . The Faulkner family dominated the Top 10 trainer placings with Rodney Faulkner's 29 winners second best to Radosevich, with father Joe Faulkner and brother Randy Faulkner tied for eighth, each with 10 winners.
CASHING ON A BUDGET --- There are at least two bettors who can attest to the fact that it doesn't always take a lot of money to strike it rich at the races. There were two winning tickets on last Saturday's Pick Six at Del Mar, each worth $356,909.60. One ticket was bought in Las Vegas and cost $8, the other through Television Games (TVG) and cost $12.
FEED BAG --- Smooth Air, winner of this year's Ohio Derby, was supposed to spend the summer in Chicago from where he would ship for stakes races throughout the midwest. The plan has been abandoned and trainer Bennie Stutts has returned Smooth Air to his winter headquarters at Calder Race Course in Miami. According to the Daily Racing Form, Smooth Air didn't care for the Polytrack surface at Arlington Park. Now back on dirt, Stutts said he is shooting for the Sept. 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Philadelphia Park as Smooth Air's next start . . . The first race on July 16 that kicked off Del Mar's summer stand was won by Plan For Fun, a horse bred by Al and Mark Corrado of Shaker Hts. Plan For Fun has been a "hot horse," claimed in seven of its last 13 starts…Thistledown will be open for evening simulcasting five of the next six nights -- Saturday and Sunday (July 26-27) and Tuesday through Thursday (July 29-July 31). Of course, the North Randall oval is open each and every afternoon for full-card simulcasting . . .Thistledown will open its gates at 11 a.m. (a half-hour earlier than usual) on Aug. 2 for the Hambletonian harness card from The Meadowlands. First post at the New Jersey track on Hambo Day is 11:30 a.m.