Jockey Hamilton Earns First Victory of Comeback Sunday
Jockey Hamilton Earns First Victory of Comeback Sunday
Riding Again at Laurel Following 10-Year Absence
Rainbow 6 Hit for $1,123, Live Racing Returns Friday
LAUREL, MD – Jockey Steve ‘Cowboy’ Hamilton earned the first victory of his riding comeback Sunday, piloting owner-trainer Robert Vukelic’s Bo Vuk to a 4 ¾-length victory in the third race at Laurel Park.
It was Hamilton’s first win in 10 years.
Sent off at 9-1 in the $22,000 maiden claiming event for 3-year-olds and up, Bo Vuk ($21.60) ran 5 ½ furlongs in 1:05.46 over a muddy and sealed main track in just his second career start and first since Jan. 3.
“I’ve been waiting for that one,” Hamilton, 42, said. “It’s awesome. Words don’t describe being back on that end of it.”
Bo Vuk, a 3-year-old chestnut Notional gelding, was forced to steady leaving the starting gate and raced near the back of the eight-horse field before launching his bid from the two path nearing the three-eighths pole. Hamilton steered him three wide for the stretch where they caught pacesetter Tizdejaslew in the final eighth and pulled away.
“Jimbo’s got something to do with this horse and that means a lot to me. He’s a good friend of mine,” Hamilton said of Jim Bracciale, who works with Vukelic. “The horse settled great, settled in, and when I asked him he was right there like push-button and finished up running. It feels great, man.”
Hamilton had more than 1,200 victories and was one of the top five riders in Maryland at the time of his retirement in December 2006. He rode from 1990 to 2000 before leaving for his native Oklahoma, returning in January 2004 and winning spring meet titles at historic Pimlico Race Course in 2004 and 2005.
Before his win Sunday, Hamilton had gone 0-for-56 with nine seconds and three thirds starting commencing his comeback with 12 races at the Maryland State Fair meet at Timonium Aug. 26 – Sept. 5. Laurel Park’s fall meet opened Sept. 9.
Rainbow 6 Hit for $1,123, Live Racing Returns Friday
After going through three weekends without being solved, the 20-cent Rainbow 6 was taken down by one lucky bettor for the second consecutive day Sunday for a payoff of $1,123.98.
Two horses were live to solve the multi-race wager heading into the ninth-race finale, won by 4-5 favorite My Adeline ($3.80) to complete the winning 1-1-7-2-5-8 sequence. The Rainbow 6 was hit for the first time of the fall meet on Saturday for a return of $12,005.98.
The Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 60 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners while 40 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
Live racing returns to Laurel with a nine-race program which attracted a total of 103 entries, an average of 11.4 horses per race. Post time is 1:10 p.m.
The Rainbow 6 will begin anew starting in Race 4 and includes the featured eighth race, a $45,000 second-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up led by Available, the Suzanne Dempsey owned and trained 7-year-old gelding most recently second in the Punch Line Stakes Sept. 24.
Notes: Jockey Jevian Toledo swept the early daily double Sunday with Classic Wildcat ($7) in the first race and Maggie Wag ($4.40) in the second. Victor Carrasco also had a riding double, aboard Risky Guy ($8.40) in the fourth and Just Jack ($9) in the eighth, while Horacio Karamanos was first with How’s Your Sugar ($9.60) in the seventh and My Adeline ($3.80) in the ninth. Trainer Kieron Magee saddled both Maggie Wag and Boon Companion ($5.40) in the sixth.
