Bridgmohan Runs Away With Arlington Riding Title

by Claire Novak
Jockey Shaun Bridgmohan earned his first outright career riding title at Arlington Park on Sunday, bringing home one final mount of the season to finish 50 wins ahead of his closest competitor.

Bridgmohan won with 132 of his 581 mounts. Chris Emigh (82-484) was a distant second.

The 26-year-old jockey piloted 5-year-old Amon (Belong to Me – Chardae, by Forty Niner) to the winner's circle in the final race on the meet's closing card, riding for Arlington Park's leading owner/trainer combination Frank Calabrese and Wayne Catalano. Calabrese earned his sixth consecutive title as the meet's leading owner with 64 wins. Catalano broke his own single-season mark of 64 wins set in 2002 with 69 trips to the winner's circle. 

"Coming in here, I didn't know what to expect," said Bridgmohan, who began riding in 1997 and spent six years on the New York circuit before coming to Arlington Park for the first time this season. "I knew I had a good agent behind me, and I came hoping for the best. Turns out I had a fabulous meet. It doesn't always happen this way, so it's a good feeling. You're workin' day in and day out, tryin' to be on top and accomplish things, so when you get this kind of success, it's wonderful."

As of Saturday, Bridgmohan ranked ninth among the nation's leading riders by races won in 2005. In 2002 he tied with John Velazquez for Aqueduct's spring riding title (33 wins). He received an Eclipse Award as outstanding apprentice in 1998.

According to the jockey's agent, Dennis Cooper, Bridgmohan will head to Kentucky for the fall. "We'll go to Keeneland and just take it one step at a time," said Cooper. "I can definitely see us coming back here, because we've obviously had some great success, thanks to the horsemen at Arlington."