Maragh now number three at Gulfstream
HALLANDALE BEACH, USA (CMC) — Rajiv Maragh used a brace Thursday afternoon to boost his title hopes, and the Jamaican is now number three in the Gulfstream Park jockeys’ table.
Maragh registered back-to-back wins in the fourth and fifth races to increase his tally of victories for the meet to 21, seven adrift of leader John Velasquez on 28.
With approximately 2-1/2 months remaining in the Gulfstream meet, Velasquez leads second-placed Javier Castellano (22) by six, with Maragh and Julien Leparoux a further win behind sharing third.
In the US$14,500 fourth race over a mile and sixteenth on turf, Maragh confidently steered the 2-to-1 favourite Super Doc to victory by 2-3/4 lengths.
He kept the five-year-old gelding off the early pace, gained on the leaders leaving the far turn, and accelerated down the home stretch for a convincing win in one minute, 42.61 seconds.
Maragh completed his double half-an-hour later in the US$26,000 fifth race over seven furlongs, scoring with the even-money favourite Stormy Ocean.
The three-year-old colt came from behind to lead coming off the final turn and won handsomely by 3-1/2 lengths in 1:23.22.
Maragh, who finished among the top 10 riders on the North American jockeys’ 2009 money list with US$11.73 million, also had two second-place finishes and a third on the card.
He lost the sixth race by a neck with the 2-1 favourite It’s Never to Late, was second by a length with the favourite Nergal (2-1) in the seventh, and was third aboard The Great McGee (5-2) in the ninth race.