2000 wins

Jockey Flavien Prat, who has been riding in the United States full time since 2015, scored the 2,000th North American victory of his career Friday afternoon aboard the Brad Cox-trained Iron Max (Caravaggio) in Race 7 on the inner turf at Belmont at the Big A. Prat didn't stop there, as he also added victory 2,001 as part of a five-win day. "Honestly, when I started riding, I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be here in New York and celebrating 2,000 wins, so I'm very grateful,"...

Finger Lakes-based trainer James Acquilano, who has been training at the Farmington, New York track since 1981, won the 2,000th race of his career Tuesday when Jersey Gregg (Uncaptured) captured the 4th race, a six-furlong maiden claimer. Acquilano not only trains, but also owns, the 4-year-old gelding, who won by five lengths. All but 39 of Acquilano's 2,000 wins have been at his home track.

In an era where robust stables seem to dominate the upper echelon of racing, dual Hall of Famer Roger Attfield has proven that while numbers matter, how you handle the ones you've got is often of greater consequence. And although one operation might attain a certain number of wins at half the speed of another, in part buoyed by its sheer loft, crossing the wire first remains the great equalizer. Illustrating that importance of reaching the milestone following a lifetime of churning out the highest quality runners, Attfield remains only...

It was about 9:15 a.m. on a chilly day at Belmont and as I headed down the aisle towards the back door of Barn 44 for what felt like the 50th time since arriving at 5:15 a.m., a hot walker stopped me in my tracks saying with a laugh, "You two started neck and neck earlier, but now she has 10 lengths on you." The woman he was referring to was top trainer Linda Rice and he couldn't have summed her up much better. A client once compared Rice to...