Emigh Reaches Career Win No. 4,000 at Arlington

Chris Emigh secured career win No. 4,000 July 4 at Arlington International Racecourse aboard Mr Haney in the first race of the day.

Emigh, who had been sitting on 3,999 wins since June 29, was scheduled to ride six of the eight races on the Thursday card but wasted no time getting the job done.

Looking back on a career that began in 1989 with his first win, Emigh remained humble.

"There's probably 6,000 people and over thousands of horses that I have to thank," he said in the winner's circle after reaching his milestone. "It's not just me, it's everyone involved. I'm just lucky enough to get on the horses' back and ride them for two minutes."

Emigh has always been a proponent of hard work and dedicating himself to being the best jockey he can be. With over 29,000 starts under his belt, finally getting to this milestone victory was emotional for the veteran jockey.

"It's pretty great to get this done," Emigh said on the walk back to the jockeys' room. "When you're a kid, you come up with a number. That number for me was 4,000, and I knew if I kept working hard every year, I would someday get there, and we're finally here."

Emigh was able to sit off the pacesetters in the early stages of the 7 1/2-furlong journey aboard Mr Haney. When the early leaders started to get tired with an eighth of a mile left in the race, Emigh and his mount kicked it into gear and went on to score a half-length victory.

"He's so tall and he has one giant stride," Emigh said of his 4-year-old mount, who is trained by Eduardo Rodriguez. "I knew if those top two just got a little tired, we could catch them. My horse got a little tired there at the end, too, but I knew with his big stride we could outlast the others, and we got the job done."

Emigh, who is the third-winningest rider at Arlington, was asked whether people would see win No. 5,000 there as well. 

"Yep, that's the plan. The drive for five starts now," he replied with a grin.