Veteran jockey Eddie Martin Jr., who won the jockey championship at Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie, Texas, when that meeting concluded July 11, plans to compete at Arlington Park for the balance of the current meeting, which concludes Sept. 19. Martin, 41, born in Kenner, Louisiana, came to Chicago to ride in the final week of last year's Arlington season and was aboard Dream Walkin Farms Inc.'s Cactus Ridge for that colt's victory in the Arlington-Washington Futurity (gr. III) Sept. 27. During the recent Lone Star Park meeting, Martin won 87 times and his mounts earned $1,684,025. He rides in Canterbury Park's "Claiming Crown" Saturday.
Martin won the jockey title at the 2001-2002 meeting at Fair Grounds after finishing second there three consecutive years. He also won the 2,000th race of his career in New Orleans on March 20, 2000. Martin's engagements at Arlington will be handled by veteran agent Bobby Kelly, who also served as Louie Roussel III's assistant trainer for a number of years in Chicago and New Orleans.