Jockey Alan Garcia earned the 1,000th win of his career when he drove odds-on choice Saint Eligius to victory by three-quarters of a length in the second race at Gulfstream Park March 20, according to Equibase.
Garcia, 24, won the first two races on the Gulfstream program to earn his milestone victory for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and owners Mr. and Mrs. William K. Warren in the one-mile allowance race on turf. Saint Eligius stalked the pace before gaining the lead in the stretch and holding on for the win.
A native of Lima, Peru, Garcia came to the United States after becoming his country's leading apprentice in 2003. His father and grandfather were both jockeys in Peru.
Garcia, who now lives in Westbury, N.Y., won his first grade I race aboard Lahudood in the 2007 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park. He and Lahudood captured the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (gr. IT) at Monmouth Park one month later. Garcia, riding Da' Tara, spoiled Big Brown's Triple Crown bid with a front-running upset victory in the 2008 Belmont Stakes (gr. I).
Among the other graded stakes winners he has ridden are Albertus Maximus , Bribon, Dynaforce, Funny Cide, Grand Couturier, Presious Passion, Regal Ransom and Vineyard Haven.
Alan Garcia
Anne M. Eberhardt