Lewis had long road to 1,000

ARCADIA, Calif. – Craig Lewis won the 1,000th race of his career with Warren’s Showtime in Saturday’s Grade 3 Autumn Miss Stakes at Santa Anita, a milestone decades in the making but reflective of more recent success.

The milestone win gave Lewis his first graded stakes victory in five years with the current stable leader whose sire and dam also had star turns in Lewis’s stable.

Warren’s Showtime is by Clubhouse Ride, a highly respected California-based stallion who won three stakes for Lewis, including consecutive runnings of the Grade 2 Californian Stakes in 2013 and 2014. Warren’s Veneda, the dam of Warren’s Showtime, was a multiple stakes winner for Lewis whose career was highlighted by a win in the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Invitational at Santa Anita in 2015.

“I’ve had some pretty nice horses,” Lewis said.

Lewis won his 1,001st race in Sunday’s third race, a starter allowance on turf, with Lucia’s Design ($10.40).

The Autumn Miss was Lewis’s first graded stakes win since the 2015 Santa Margarita, and Warren’s Showtime’s fourth stakes win this year. A five-time stakes winner in her career, Warren’s Showtime previously won two stakes for California-breds and two nongraded stakes.

Lewis’s success dates back to the late 1980s, when he won such races as the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup with Cutlass Reality in 1988, the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes with Music Merci in 1989, and the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby with Larry the Legend.

Lewis, 73, has trained since 1981 and currently has a 20-horse stable. He briskly remembered on Sunday that he won a career-best 88 races in 1988. The stable earned $3.3 million that year, good enough for Lewis to rank 10th nationally.

There were a few quiet years earlier this century. The stable won 11 races in 2007, and 12 in 2010.

“It was very quiet,” he said. “I think it was a result of having a couple of owners pass away.

“This is a money game. No one ever made a slow horse run fast.”

Clubhouse Ride won the Barretts Juvenile at Fairplex Park in 2010 and was third in the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park at the end of that season. Clubhouse Ride was most successful as an older horse. Aside from his wins in the Californian, Clubhouse Ride was second in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita in 2014.

As a stallion, Clubhouse Ride has had a successful career on a regional basis in California. His progeny have earned $1.7 million this year, good enough for a place among the state’s top 10 stallions.

“The emergence of him as a stud has been a big help,” Lewis said.

Warren’s Showtime has won 6 of 13 starts and has earned $520,251 for owners Ben and Sally Warren. On Saturday evening, the Warrens and Lewis had dinner at a restaurant near Santa Anita, celebrating the success of their filly and the trainer’s milestone.

Warren’s Showtime will race again in coming months.

Warren’s Showtime will be considered for several races, including the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf against males Nov. 28 at Del Mar, the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes against older fillies and mares at a mile on turf Nov. 29 at Del Mar, or the Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on dirt Dec. 6 at Los Alamitos.