Krigger's 1,000th Career Victory Tops Four-Win Night

Jockey Kevin Krigger stole the show Aug. 24 at Emerald Downs, riding four winners and notching his 1,000th victory.

Krigger swept races 4, 5, 6, and 7, scoring the milestone victory aboard I Double Dare You in the fifth race. He added a feature race victory on Vicente's Shadow in the $16,810 Muckleshoot Casino Purse for 3-year-olds and up.

Krigger won the fourth race on Honkytonkbar and the sixth on Bounty Hunter. Through Saturday, he had 19 wins in 73 mounts since returning to Emerald Downs Aug. 2.

The victory on I Double Dare You was in gate-to-wire fashion as the 5-year-old Sixthirteen mare cruised by 3 1/2 lengths for trainer Rigoberto Velasquez and owner John Sneesby.

"It's been a long road to get to 1,000 wins, a lot of highlights, and I've ridden at a lot of places," Krigger said. "But it's great to get my thousandth win at Emerald Downs. This place is like my second home."

A 35-year-old native of the Virgin Islands, Krigger won his first race in 2001 at Thistledown and is best known for winning the 2013 Santa Anita Derby (G1) on Goldencents . In 2011, he won the All American Stakes (G3) and San Francisco Mile (G3T) aboard Our Nautique at Golden Gate Fields, and in 2006 he won the Ballerina Breeders' Cup Stakes (G3) at Hastings Racecourse with Gins Majesty, a daughter of 1994 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Go for Gin.

By the end of Saturday night, 361 of Krigger's 1,002 wins had come at Emerald Downs. He won the 2005 riding title there with 126 wins.

In the featured seventh race, Krigger and Vicente's Shadow held off Kevin Orozco and Bullet Drill in a driving finish for a head victory. Vicente's Shadow, a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred by Liaison , is owned and trained by Satchell Stevens, a nephew of Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens. It was Stevens' first victory at Emerald Downs.