12/16/10
Last updated: 12/15/10 6:07 PM
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Scott Lake has made a lot of trips to the
winner’s circle in the past 13 years
(Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club) |
Scott Lake became the sixth Thoroughbred trainer to win 5,000 races on
Wednesday, sending out Communicator (Jump Start) to the milestone victory in the
1ST race at Laurel Park. Only Dale Baird (9,445), Jack Van Berg (6,405), King
Leatherbury (6,313), Jerry Hollendorfer (5,830) and Steve Asmussen (5,684) have
more wins.
“We are really proud of what the barn has accomplished,” Lake said after
reaching the milestone. “We owe it to all the owners, horses and my help. What
is really cool is that we did our 3,000th at Philly (Philadelphia Park), the
4,000th at Penn National and the 5,000th here. Those are the three places we did
most of the winning.”
Communicator sprinted clear at the start and led wire to wire in the
six-furlong sprint for $5,000 claimers.
A native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Lake won his first race in 1987 and has
led the nation in wins four times (2006, 2003, 2001 and 2000). He also finished
second in 2009 behind Asmussen with 306 tallies.
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The 45-year-old conditioner currently ranks ninth among 2010 trainers with
190 wins after downsizing his barn from 287 horses at eight different tracks in
2009 to 70 runners at two locations this year.
“We had an unbelievable run,” Lake commented. “It will just take us a lot
longer to get to 6,000, but I am a lot happier. Seventy horses is a good number
for us.”
Lake’s top performers include Shake You Down, My
Cousin Matt, Thunderello and Leave It to Beezer.
