When Red Hot Kitten crossed the wire a neck to the good in Turfway Park’s last race on New Year’s Eve, the final day of the 2018 holiday meet, Mike Maker claimed sole possession of the record for training titles at the Northern Kentucky track with 21.
Maker had been tied with Bernie Flint, who last earned a Turfway Park title at the 2004 holiday meet.
Maker and Wesley Ward entered closing night tied with nine wins each.
Ward took an early lead when Katsumi Yoshida’s 2-year-old Irish-bred filly The Mackem Bullet won the third race by 10 1/2 lengths in her U. S. debut. Maker closed with Red Hot Kitten’s front-running win to force the dead heat at 10 wins each, Maker from 37 starters and Ward from 27.
The shared honor was the second Turfway title for Ward, whose title for the 2018 winter/spring meet stopped a seven-meet streak by Maker.
Trainers Stephen Lyster and Alexis Cordero-Lopez each added a win on closing night to finish with four wins and create a five-way tie for third with Kim Hammond, Jason Barkley and Tom Drury Jr.
Red Hot Kitten is owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, long-time clients of both Maker and Ward.
The Ramseys, Kentucky’s all-time leading owners, earned a record 15th owner’s title at Turfway with nine winners from 20 starters. Thomas Todd’s Oakview Stable and Cordero-Lopez tied for second with three wins each, the former from five starters and the latter from 11.
Leading jockey honors also came down to the wire, with Red Hot Kitten giving Rodney Prescott his 21st win from his 95th mount, one win better than newcomer Luan Machado.
Machado began closing night two behind Prescott and turned up the heat with wins in the second and third races before settling for second place with 20 wins from 106 mounts. Rafael Mojica Jr. finished with 16 wins from 80 mounts to take third place.
The title was Prescott’s second at Turfway, his first coming in the 2002 holiday meet.
Newcomer Machado Serves Notice
Jockey Luan Machado arrived in the United States from his native Brazil in November and has wasted no time turning heads.
A graduate of the jockey school at Hipódromo da Gávea in Rio de Janeiro with nearly 300 wins to his credit, Machado moved his tack to the United States at the urging of agent Jimmy McNerney and with interest from Ward. McNerney noticed the 24-year-old rider when he rode Quarteto De Cordas to win the Group 1 Grande Prêmio Brasil, the country’s most prestigious race
Machado plans to continue riding at Turfway through the winter/spring meet.
Racing at Turfway Park continues uninterrupted into the 2019 winter/spring meet, which ends March 30. The track is scheduled to run every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
First post is 6:15 p.m. with the exception of Jan. 3 and Jeff Ruby Steaks day on Saturday, March 9, when first post will be 1:10 p.m.
Turfway Park