Retired rider Davis saddles first winner as trainer

by Brisnet.com

Former jockey Robbie Davis got his first win as a trainer Saturday

afternoon as 39-1 shot Sandyinthesun, ridden by his daughter, Jackie,

got up by a nose to win the 7TH race at Aqueduct.

"To me, it's better than any win I ever rode," said Davis, who

co-owns the four-year-old gelded son of Say Florida Sandy with Thomas

Ponzarella. "It was an incredible race. It's unimaginable, the feeling."

Sandyinthesun, who is the only horse Davis has in training, returned

$81.50 for a $2 win bet as he won his first race in five starts.

"I am so happy," said Jackie Davis, who graduated from the North

American Racing Academy in Versailles, Kentucky, and rode her first

winner at the Big A in 2008. "This is the most exciting thing I've ever

done. This is like winning my first race."

Sandyinthesun, for whom Davis and Ponzarella paid $700 as a yearling,

finished 11th in his first start at Saratoga Race Course in September, and was

then off the board in three subsequent races. After he finished eighth in his

most recent start on November 20, Davis equipped the New York-bred gelding with

blinkers and he responded Saturday with a solid surge between horses in the

stretch to win the 1 1/16-mile good turf race in a bob at the wire.

"I'm just so thankful to get this horse to the races," Davis said. "I'm just

so glad to be able to do this with Jackie and everybody here at Aqueduct. I'd

like to thank the good Lord. It's going to be a great Christmas for everybody."