Albarado earns career win 3,000

Albarado and son Kaden after the rider scored his 3,000th career victory (Lou Hodges Jr.)

Jockey Robby Albarado scored his 3,000th career victory on Thursday at Fair

Grounds with family and friends looking on. He guided fellow Louisiana-bred, ISLE OF SILVER (Autocracy),

to a neck win in the 6TH race. The

gray two-year-old colt, owned by Valene Farms and trained by Troy Young,

completed the

six-furlong maiden special weight event in 1:13 2/5 on the good track.

Albarado's wife, Kimber, and son Kalen were on hand for the milestone

victory, as was his agent, Lenny Pike.

"We've been together a long time," Albarado said of his agent. "He

does a great job. He takes a lot of the pressure off me by putting me on

the right horses."

One of those horses, Banshee Breeze, gave the rider his first Grade 1

win when she captured the 1998 Spinster S. It wasn't to be his last,

though. Albarado was the regular rider of last year's Horse of the Year,

Mineshaft, and added another four Grade 1s to his resume by the end of

2003.

The Lafayette, Louisiana, native earned his first career win in 1990

and continued to ride at Evangeline and Delta Downs until moving his

tack to Louisiana Downs and Fair Grounds in 1993.

"Fair Grounds has probably had the biggest impact on my career,"

Albarado said. "I definitely wanted to reach this milestone here."

The 31-year-old rider would go on to capture riding titles at Keeneland,

Oaklawn Park and Arlington Park, as well as Fair Grounds. In fact, from the past

seven years, he has topped the jockey standings at Fair Grounds five times and set a record at the track with 13 stakes victories

last year. He also tied

another mark with six wins on a single card.