Maragh moves into Gulfstream Park’s top-five
HALLANDALE BEACH, Florida (CMC) — Rajiv Maragh celebrated his memorable victory in the Louisiana Derby in New Orleans the previous day with a pair of wins that moved him into the top-five in the jockeys table on Sunday at Gulfstream Park.
The Jamaican reinsman is now fifth in standings with 39 wins and earnings of US $1,180,350 to trail leader Javier Castellano on 50 wins, Paco Lopez with 48, John Velazquez on 46, and Elvis Trujillo with 40.
Maragh got off the mark when he won the US $29,000 fourth race going 1,200 metres aboard the 7-5 favourite Moonlight Dreamer by a head.
Moonlight Dreamer, a seven-year-old, dark bay mare, duelled for the lead throughout, and showed she still had the legs to edge away from her rivals at the wire for a time of one minute, 10.40 seconds — a mere 1.54 secs outside the track record.
Maragh then added to his tally, when he won the US $53,000 ninth race over 1,700m on the 8-5 favourite Star Plus by 1 3/4 lengths.
Star Plus, a seven-year-old, bay horse, angled out for the stretch run, and rallied to catch a rival at the sixteenth pole before drawing clear under a strong hand ride to clock 1 min, 42.48 secs.