Jockey Taylor Hole Rides 2,000th Winner
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Veteran jockey Taylor Hole picked up his 2,000th career victory May 22 at Pimlico Race Course, when riding Dr Bolt to victory in the sixth race .
Dr Bolt, a colt by Cherokee's Boy owned by Five Hellions Farm and trained by Donnovan Haughton, took the lead down the stretch and completed six-furlong claiming race in 1:13.27.
After the race, the 43-year-old jockey was joined in the winner's circle by his fellow riders and friends.
"It's a little surreal," said Hole of the milestone win. "I took my time getting here, but it feels great."
When asked if he was relieved to have victory 2,000 behind him, Hole replied: "It is, but it isn't. It's very special. I just never focused on this one number. I just tried to do the best I could with every horse I rode. We'd get here eventually."
Hole reached single-season career highs of 198 wins in 2001 and $1.63 million in purse earnings in 2000. He ranked seventh at Laurel Park's 2015 winter meet with 14 victories and is among the top 10 riders at the current Pimlico meet.
On Jan. 17, 1992, Hole earned his first victory on his third career mount at Rockingham Park.
Hole's late father, Michael, was a British-born jockey who came to the U.S. in 1961 and rode 2,042 winners, mostly in New York and New England, before his untimely death in 1976. Hole followed in the business, working odd jobs as a Rockingham Park stablehand in the mid-1980s, then moved to the Maryland steeplechase farm of a family friend to learn professional riding.