Mike Maker | Coady Photography
Mike Maker, who has been in the habit of winning coaching titles at the Kentucky Downs, made this meet again, continuing his dominance with a record seventh coaching title at the seven-day store meeting . Tyler Gaffalione won the equestrian title. The 28-year-old racer won his second championship at the track with nine wins from 66 starts. He also had 17 seconds (seven of them in the final two days of the meeting) and three finishes in third place.
Maker won 12 races, a meeting record. The old record of 10 wins, set by Wayne Catalano in 2013, was broken when Maker won his 11th race on Sunday. He then broke his own record on Wednesday when Into Mischief won the opening day.
“That’s a good thing, it doesn’t happen often,” Maker, a man of few words, said with a smile. “All jokes aside, it was a great meeting. The way I see it, the Kentucky Downs have been about 10% of my business for the past seven or eight years. That 10% increase in five days over the years, that’s pretty remarkable. “
Four of Gaffalone’s victories have come from horses trained by Maker. He credited his agent, Matt Muzikar, for putting him on the right horse.
“I am very proud of this achievement,” he said. “A lot of credit goes to the riders who brought their horses here ready to run. The horses really appeared, big time. It’s a tough encounter and you have to have things your way. “
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This story was posted in Top News and tagged Kentucky Downs, Mike Maker, Tyler Gaffalione.
