Chris Emigh rides 4,000th winner

Jockey Chris Emigh became the 70th jockey with at least 4,000 wins in North America when he guided Mr Haney to the milestone victory in the first race Thursday at Arlington.

Emigh, 48, has 1,100 winners at Arlington, third-most at the track behind Earlie Fires and Pat Day. Emigh began his jockey career in 1989 and has ridden every meeting at Arlington since 1997.

“It feels amazing and always wanted to do it here,” he said. “It took 30 years. I said if I got to 4,000, they’d have to say I could ride a little bit. There are probably 10,000 people and thousands of horses to thank. I just go out there and do two minutes of work. Just keep working hard every year and try not to get hurt.”