De La Cruz Earns Milestone Win at Remington Park

Jockey Walter De La Cruz has had a case of seconditis in his first stint at Remington Park and it has kept him at 999 career wins for quite a while. On Oct. 23 he was able to break that curse.

In the fourth race Wednesday, De La Cruz on Out On Saturday sat just off the pace and took the lead at the top of the stretch before making sure no one would catch them. The 6-5 favorite, Out On Saturday drew off by 7 1/4 lengths to give De La Cruz the 1,000th win of his career.

"Yes, 1,000 wins," De La Cruz said after taking his picture in the winner's circle. "I want to thank God and the owner (Bryan Hawk) for this opportunity." Joe Offolter is the trainer.

Going into Wednesday night, De La Cruz had raced 80 times this meet and only won three times, but had been the runner-up 12 times, and third seven times. De La Cruz also rode at Turfway Park in Kentucky and full-time at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., over the winter/spring seasons earlier this year. He finished ninth in wins at the Oaklawn meet with 17.

De La Cruz had the biggest win of his career at Oaklawn this year when Rated R Superstar pulled off the upset Mar. 16 in the $350,000 Essex Handicap, a prep race for older horses on their way to the $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2).

De La Cruz has been a perennial riding champ at Thistledown in the Cleveland suburbs in past years. He rode this summer at Prairie Meadows in Iowa between the Oaklawn and Remington Park meets and finished sixth in the standings there. De La Cruz rode his first North American winner in 2012 and has averaged about 130 wins a year since then to reach this milestone. His horses have earned more than $16 million. It took him just under 5,600 mounts to get his 1,000th win.

It was only the third start lifetime for De La Cruz's winning mount Wednesday. Out On Saturday had raced against maidens at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla., in May and ran sixth, beaten 10 lengths. That was in maiden allowance, Oklahoma-bred company. In his second try, he traveled to Prairie Meadows and tried the $30,000 maiden claiming level there, again finishing sixth. On Wednesday night, this 3-year-old gelded son of Flat Out , from the Any Given Saturday mare Saturday Surprise, dropped in class to maiden $7,500 claimers and that did the trick. He beat second favorite, Ranger Bob, by daylight for owner Hawk from Shawnee, Okla.

Out On Saturday was bred in Oklahoma by Cabotaba Partnership and Darley. The winner covered the seven furlongs in 1:25.77, paying $4.40 to win.