Jockey Robby Albarado became the fifth rider in Churchill Downs history to reach 900 victories beneath the Twin Spires when he guided Strike Impact to a front-running triumph in sixth race Nov. 12.
A 37-year-old native of Lafayette, La., Albarado has been riding for 21 years and been a regular at Churchill Downs since 1996. He has won one leading rider title (spring 2008) and has a sizable margin in his bid for an initial fall title with 14 victories through the first nine days of the 21-day meet that runs through Nov. 28.
Pat Day is the all-time win leader at Churchill Downs with 2,482 and is followed by Calvin Borel (1,030), Don Brumfield (925), and Larry Melancon (914). Albarado has won 66 stakes at Churchill Downs, second only to Day’s 156.
In the afternoon’s feature, Steve Mongerson’s Mahindar posted a wire-to-wire victory in the $55,440 five-furlong turf sprint for fillies and mares, defeating odds-on favorite West Ocean by 1 3/4 lengths.
Trained by Tom Amoss and ridden by Borel, Mahindar covered the distance on a firm turf in :56.81. The victory was worth $33,600 for the 3-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Leroidesanimaux, who improved her record to 13-7-1-1 with earnings of $136,375.
Mahindar returned $12.40, $4.60 and $3.60.