Johnson lands three wins at Fort Erie

JAMAICAN KIRK Johnson continued his steady rise in the jockeys’ standings with a triple on Tuesday at the Fort Erie racetrack.

Johnson moved into third in the standings on 22 wins after his dominant performance on the eight-race card. Two Barbadians, Christopher Husbands, on 45 wins, and reigning champion Juan Crawford, on 26, are the only riders ahead of him.

Johnson opened the day’s racing with a three quarters-of-a-length win aboard 3-2 favourite OUT AT THE SPEEDWAY in the CDN$16,965 first race over six furlongs on the dirt.

OUT AT THE SPEEDWAY was well back through the early fractions, before Johnson got the four-year-old bay filly to close the gap on the turn, and she proved best in the home stretch to finish in one minute, 11.54 seconds.

Johnson returned to the winners’ circle in the CDN$11,184 penultimate race on the card, when he made a few fortunate punters very happy with a three-length win on the 25-1 long-shot HESATHRILLER.

The five-year-old dark bay horse showed speed early in the six-furlong sprint on the dirt and Johnson got him to take the lead on the turn, before drawing off in the stretch for a time of 58.48 seconds.

Johnson closed the day’s racing with a 1 1/4-length win astride the 3-1 bet LOADED ONCE MORE in the CDN$14,882 final race.

LOADED ONCE MORE showed speed and set the pace and was never headed in the 1,300-metre trip on dirt. The threeyear-old chestnut filly finished in 1:19.09.

Meantime, Husbands had another winless day in the saddle, only able to secure three thirds and a fourth from his four mounts.

However, his compatriot, Crawford, piloted the 5-4 favourite SHOW SOME SKIN to a 1 1/4-length win in the CDN$17,180 second race over six furlongs.

Crawford made his bid on SHOW SOME SKIN in the middle of the homestretch, and the four-year-old bay filly drew clear in the home stretch to clock 1:11.40.