NEWS
Fires moves past Hawley on list of all-time winning jockeys
Posted: Sunday, June 08, 2008 6:10 PM
EARLIE FIRES
Tina Hines photo
Racing Hall of Fame jockey Earlie Fires, 61, moved past Sandy Hawley into ninth place on the list of all-time winning North American riders with three victories on Saturday at Arlington Park.
Arlington’s all-time leading rider, Fires tied Hawley at 6,449 victories when he guided Sixty Deelites to a 2 1/2-length win in the third race and moved into sole possession of ninth place with a win aboard Luga in race five. Fires capped the three-win day with a victory aboard It’s Never to Late in the eighth race.
Fires won the fifth and eighth race for the owner-trainer combination of Frank Calabrese and Wayne Catalano.
“Frank [Calabrese] has been good to me, and Wayne has helped out a lot, too, by putting me on so many good horses this season,” Fires said. “Because of them, I got here [to the latest milestone] a lot quicker than I thought I would.”
Hawley was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1992. Fires was among the 2001 Hall of Fame class.
