Thirteen-year-old El Bomba reached his 100th race with a flourish Jan. 12 at Turfway Park, winning by a nose under the steady urging of jockey Amanda Tamburello (VIDEO).
The milestone start came in Turfway’s first race, a one-mile test for $5,000 claimers on a fast track.
Breaking from post 2, El Bomba was last out of the gate, moved up from seventh to be a close fourth after a quarter-mile, and then made a four-wide bid on the turn to lead into the stretch. The veteran gelding dug in to maintain a length's advantage over Teetee’s Tapit at mid-stretch, then outlasted his rival for a nose victory. Teetee's Tapit, who led early and then followed the leader to the wire, finished a head in front of Soldero in third.
Racing in claiming, starter allowance, and allowance races for 95 of his 100 starts, El Bomba has 15 wins, nine seconds, and 16 thirds and has won $205,895. He made his first start in August 2002, finishing seventh, and broke his maiden in October of that year on his fifth try.
El Bomba was bred in Maryland by Pat Duffy and Rodney Jenkins and is by Signal Tap out of El Gran Senorita, by El Gran Senor. The bay is owned by Sherri Greenhill and trained by Jeff Greenhill.