Jockey Curtis Kimes Rides 2,000th Winner
Description:
Jockey Curtis Kimes reached the 2,000-win milestone July 27 with a frontrunning victory aboard I. P. C. Stables' Stormin Away in the third race at Fair Meadows in Tulsa, Okla.
Kimes immediately put the Arkansas-bred Spotsgone gelding on the lead in the six-furlong claiming dirt sprint, and the 3-year-old trained by Tim Dixon maintained that lead all the way to the wire in a 2 1/4-length win. The final time was 1:15.17 on a track rated fast.
The rider has earned more than $21.8 million in purses for his mounts in his career, which began in 1988. Those 2,000 wins came from 15,459 mounts. Some of the top horses he has ridden are stakes winners Herecomesthemannow, Tonight Rainbow, and Perfect to Please.
On pace for his first 100-win season since 2009, Kimes has 74 wins from 306 starts and $788,456 in purse earnings so far in 2018. His best purse haul came in 2009, when he brought in more than $1.5 million, but his best season for victories came in 2005, when he rode 154 winners.
Kimes is second in the Fair Meadows jockey standings with 31 wins but tops the sheet in earnings, with $251,508. Benny Landeros has the most wins at Fair Meadows with 32.