Veteran rider Frankie Lovato Jr. broke out of his seasonal shutout in a big way Saturday by registering the first four-win afternoon by any jockey riding during the current session at Arlington Park. "It was getting a bit scary," said Lovato Sunday morning, while admitting a sense of relief that his local winless streak was over. "It wasn't so much that I was getting down on myself as it was that I was getting frustrated. I've been in this business long enough to know that things like this happen, but when your statistics are down, other people can get to thinking. "I can make sense of it," said Lovato of the ended draught, "but that doesn't mean that all the owners and trainers can. I knew that I would have ridden a few winners with some of the good turf horses I ride, but then the race would come off the grass. Things like that happen, so you have to hope for a miraculous day like yesterday (Saturday) to turn things around for you."
Lovato won with Dogwood Stable's Color Me Gone for trainer Rebecca Maker; Totier Creek Farm's Boogie Piano for conditioner Jeff Thornbury; Pin Oak Stable LLC's Acceptwithpleasure for trainer Mike Stidham (giving Stidham a two-win day); and Stan E. Fulton's Cherokee's Disco, also saddled by Maker.
"Things always seem to have gone that way for me," said Lovato of his cold-to-hot status. "I knew I had four good mounts to ride Saturday, and I thought they'd all run good, but I began the day just hoping for a winner. I never thought all four horses would win for me."
