Birzer wins 3,000th
Alex Birzer became the 174th North American jockey to win 3,000 races when he guided Numancia to victory in Sunday’s sixth race at Oaklawn. Birzer, 43, rode three winners on Saturday’s card to move within one of the milestone, which came with his fifth mount of the day. Birzer’s victory Sunday was his 17th of the season in 136 starts, good for fifth in the jockey standings.
Alex Birzer became the 174th North American jockey to win 3,000 races when he guided Numancia to victory in Sunday’s sixth race at Oaklawn. Birzer, 43, rode three winners on Saturday’s card to move within one of the milestone, which came on his fifth mount of the day.
Birzer’s victory Sunday was his 17th victory of the season in 136 starts, good for fifth in the jockey standings.
In a jockey colony overflowing with successful veteran jockeys, Birzer still ranks behind Calvin Borel (5,162), Jon Court (4,011), Christopher Emigh (3,736), Luis Quinonez (3,631), Glenn Corbett (3,594) and Terry Thompson (3,207) in the victory column. Another Oaklawn rider, Carlos Marquez Jr., is at 2,907.
“I’m speechless,” Birzer said. “It looked like it might set up this way last fall and I had it in my mind that it would be great to reach this here. I just love Oaklawn. I love the people here. The patrons are just unreal with the way they treat us. It’s a great racing atmosphere.”
Birzer has two stakes victories at the meeting, both on 3-year-old filly Chanel’s Legacy, who has won the $125,000 Dixie Belle and $125,000 Martha Washington Stakes for trainer Lynn Chleborad. Information for this report was contributed by Oaklawn media department.