EAST BOSTON, Massachusetts, CMC
JAMAICAN JOCKEY Winston Thompson moved within two victories of 200 winning rides this season when he scored a double on the Suffolk Downs mid-week programme.
Thompson, on course for back-to-back championship titles at the East Boston oval, landed Wednesday's third and fourth races to double for the third consecutive race day.
His effort took him to 198 wins 53 victories at Tampa Bay Downs early in the season and 145 at Suffolk Downs since April so far in the 2005 North American racing season.
He is 15th on the win-list for all riders in North America Canada and the United States for 2005 and retains a clear lead in the Suffolk Downs standings with only two weeks remaining in the season.
As the most sought after rider at Suffolk Downs, Thompson got his 145 wins at Suffolk Downs from a whopping 719 rides, to lead Dyn Panell with 121 victories (479 rides), with Tammi Piermarini (103) a distant third.
Thompson, who won twice on Monday and doubled again on Tuesday, captured Wednesday's third race aboard Kiss My Hand and the fourth astride Day of the Hunt.
The 41-year-old, who achieved 2,500 career wins in mid-September, coasted to a 4-1/2 length triumph aboard the 3-2 favourite Kiss My Wind in the third race, and then snatched a very narrow win with Day of the Hunt half an hour later.
Day of the Hunt, a 6-1 shot in the 10-horse field, received a strong ride from Thompson on the rails to win by a nose.
