Ouzts records 5,800th win; River Bear rolls in Holiday Cheer

Ouzts records 5,800th win; River Bear rolls in Holiday

Cheer

Veteran jockey Perry Ouzts won three races at

Turfway Park Saturday night to end the year with a new milestone: career win

number 5,800.

Ouzts won Saturday's 1ST race with 9-5 Chocolate Licorice and the 4TH race

with 5-2 Hotnitesinmichigan before driving up the rail nearly gate to wire to

take the 8TH race with 20-1 Keyite.

Ouzts remains 18th on the all-time wins list, 93 behind Hall of Fame jockey

Jerry Bailey. Of those ahead of him, only Russell Baze (first with 11,436

wins through December 30), Edgar Prado (ninth with 6,510), and Mario Pino (13th with

6,387) are still active.

Ouzts grew up in Rivervale, Arkansas, riding horses with his cousin, Hall of Fame

jockey Earlie Fires. He began his career at Beulah Park in 1973 and has been a

consistent leader on the Ohio circuit ever since, holding a record 25 meet

titles from River Downs and at least 11 at Beulah Park. He has one meet title

at Turfway, taking the Fall Meet in 2010.

In the New Year's Eve feature at Turfway, River Bear took advantage of a

wicked pace and a smart ride by Timothy Thornton to win the $50,000

Holiday Cheer Stakes, clearing the field to be best by five lengths. Live

From Appollo got the nod in a three-way photo for second, finishing a head

better than Conchacer, who was another head better than Golden Country.

Under heavy pressure from Too Wild for Words, Conchacer set the first

quarter-mile in :21.63 before dropping back into third. Too Wild for Words took

the lead before the half-mile and set that mark at :44.51 but could not hold his

speed and stopped. 

In the meantime, Thornton was guiding River Bear

through the field, moving steadily from about six lengths off the lead to narrow

the gap to two lengths at the half-mile mark. As the field turned for home

with horses fanned out from the rail eight wide, Thornton cleared the crowd from

the five path, led into the stretch, and drew away. Final time for the six

furlongs was 1:09.78.

River Bear had raced only once before at Turfway, finishing second in last

year's Holiday Cheer.

"He threw a shoe last year but he still ran really good," said trainer Rusty Hellman.

"The timing worked out good to bring him here. He's a consistent

horse on any surface -- maybe not as much on turf, but other than that he's run

good on everything."

Thornton came in from his base in Chicago to ride River Bear, his only mount on

the card.

"I had (opportunity for) a lot of mounts in Chicago today but I chose to come

here," said Thornton. "He's one of my favorite horses. We knew the

race was tough.  Going into it we knew there was a ton of speed, and I was

kind of worried because speed's been holding all day. I had a good, clean

trip. I came from way back and snuck through the middle turning for home

and left them behind. I was able to weave my way through traffic and

didn't have to go too wide."

Behind Golden Country were Matthewsburg, Taptowne, El Gran Sol, Our Rock Star,

Pathoki, Hollywood Hit, and Too Wild for Words. Plutonium and Tend were

scratched by their trainers. Hollywood Hit, the 2-1 favorite, stumbled

leaving the gate. 

Fourth choice at 9-2, River Bear paid $11.80, $6.80, and $4.80. Live From Appollo paid $15.80 and $6.60. Conchacer paid $4.40.

River Bear, turns seven on Sunday, was bred in Illinois by his owner,

Dana Waier Thoroughbreds LLC, and is by Unreal Zeal out of Jabber, by

Minneapple.  He has 13 wins, eight seconds, and six thirds in 43 career

starts and earnings of $588,915.  The Holiday Cheer is his fifth blacktype

win.