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| GARRETT GOMEZ |
| Benoit & Associates photo |
Jockey Garrett Gomez won aboard three of his four mounts on Wednesday at Santa Anita Park but fell just shy of Jerry Bailey’s single-season record for North American purse earnings.
Gomez finished 2008 with $23,344,351 in earnings, $10,609 shy of Bailey’s 2003 record of $23,354,960.
Gomez won the third, fifth, and sixth races to climb within $19,681 of Bailey’s record with Baroness Thatcher in the $97,400 Kalookan Queen Handicap as his only remaining scheduled mount.
Gomez finished third aboard 3.20-to-1 second-choice Baroness Thatcher in the Kalookan Queen to conclude 2008 ranked second on the all-time single-season purse earnings list.
Gomez won the third race by a neck with Warren’s Appeal. Gomez rode Twin Turbo to a nose victory over Coronado’s Pride in the fifth race before taking the sixth race with 8-to-5 favorite Kyniska (Ire).
History might have been on Gomez's side if he had been able to ride on Sunday. Gomez was injured in a spill on Saturday when his mount, Back At You, veered into the inner rail during the Eddie Logan Stakes at Santa Anita. The jockey had three teeth knocked out in the accident and injured his left hand and left knee.
"In retrospect, though, I'm grateful that I even had a chance," Gomez said following the Kalookan Queen. "This was working out to become a pretty good story. But it was just a blessing to be riding [Wednesday].
"The fall the other day was unfortunate, but that's part of our world. I look at it this way. It was time get some new teeth anyway."
Trainer Steve Asmussen won a single-season record 622 races and led all trainers by North American purse earnings with $24,235,247 in 2008.
Zayat Stables led all owners by North American purse earnings with $6,883,902, edging runner-up Stronach Stables ($6,677,124) in a race that was not decided until the final week of the year.
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