Beschizza, Cox top Fair Grounds 2018-19 meet standings

Jockey Adam Beschizza and trainer Brad Cox won hotly contested titles at the 2018-19 Fair Grounds meet that ended Sunday.

Beschizza won six races closing week and topped James Graham 82 wins to 76 for his first riding title. Freshly arrived from an English journeyman jockey’s career that was stuck in idle, Beschizza nearly won the 2017-18 Fair Grounds crown, losing 66-65 to Shaun Bridgmohan, but despite Graham hanging tough to the end during a surprisingly robust meet, Beschizza, the main rider for successful trainer Joe Sharp, came out on top.

Sharp himself won six races from 16 starters during closing week, but that wasn’t enough to catch trainer Brad Cox, whose three-win Sunday capped an 8-for-13 final week and secured his third straight Fair Grounds training title. In fact, Cox for the second season in a row came out four wins ahead of Sharp, 53 to 49.

Brad Grady, one of Sharp’s major clients, earned leading-owner honors with 17 wins during the meet, his second owner's title in a row.

Grande Basin ($19) rallied up the rail under Miguel Mena to win the closing-day feature, the $60,000 Star Guitar Stakes, by a neck over longshot Pound for Pound. Eddie Johnston trains the winner, a 7-year-old son of Good and Tough, for owners William Deckwa and John Carbo.