Clark Celebrates 3,000th Career Victory

When Kerwin Clark finally got to celebrate his 3,000th win at Delta Downs Racetrack and Casino Dec. 15, the moment was better than he imagined. How the milestone occurred, however, is something the 40-plus year veteran could have never fathomed even in a career that has seen it all.

Clark was back in the jockeys' room after he and his mount, B Brazin, crossed the wire third in the evening's ninth race when he got word that he was officially in rarified company. Following a double disqualification of both first-place finisher Run With Class and second-place finisher Drewstormin for interference, Clark and B Brazin were elevated to the victory.

It was far from the way Clark envisioned such an achievement going down. It didn't make the reality of it any less poignant for the 57-year-old Louisiana native. 

"It wasn't how I expected to get win No. 3,000 but I'll take it," Clark said. "I was in the jocks room and I'm thinking, best case scenario, they move me to second. And then the other light starts blinking and I'm thinking, there is no way they're going to take both of these horses down.

"Then (track announcer) Don Stevens comes on and says 'We have a double disqualification' and I said 'You've got to be freaking kidding me'. It was just crazy. It's so surreal to be honest."

That Clark would reach the 3,000-win mark the same year he is a finalist for the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award—which recognizes those riders whose careers and personal character earn esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred racing—is a most fitting part of his journey.

The son of a jockey who started at bush tracks, Clark rode his first winner at Evangeline Downs in 1975 and has long been regarded as one of the most respected figures on the Midwest circuit. 

Several years ago, Clark had resigned himself to the fact that his days of getting on the best horses were over and that he would be content making a good living in the Louisiana ranks. That mindset got thrown for a tremendous loop when Clark booted Brereton Jones' Lovely Maria to victory in the 2015 Central Bank Ashland Stakes (gr. I) for his first career grade I win. He then went on to guide the daughter of Majesticperfection   to her subsequent triumph in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (gr. I).

"To win two grade Is, the Ashland and the Oaks, that's about as good as it gets after being in this business for so long," Clark said. "I was thinking it's never going to happen to me, not at this point, not at 56 years old. Then to win your 3,000th race and be in line for the George Woolf Award, how do you put that into words? It's unbelievable.

"If I happen to get the award, what a cherry on top that would be. To be voted in by your peers, that's just amazing."

Clark's 3,000 wins have come from 24,206 starts and he has career earnings of $52,502,944. And he has no plans to stop adding to those totals anytime soon.

"There is nothing like winning a race, whether it's a $10,000 claimer or a grade I," Clark said. "There is that exhilaration and that just never goes away. As long as I still want to get out of bed and go do it, I'm going to go do it."