Emigh enjoying career revival at age 44

STICKNEY, Ill. – Chris Emigh has won nine riding titles, but the most recent of them came in 2006, and at 44, supposedly on the down slope of a long and successful career in the saddle, Emigh’s name didn’t figure to light the top of a meet-long leaderboard ever again. Yet roughly halfway through the Hawthorne fall-winter season, there’s Emigh, perched atop the jockey standings, his 27 wins through Wednesday eight better than Tim Thornton and Santo Sanjur.

And it’s not just Hawthorne. Also through Wednesday, Emigh had ridden 108 winners in 2015, and barring misfortune, he’ll amass his highest annual total since 2008, when he rode 193 winners.

“You keep your head down, keep at it, things can start to build back up,” said Emigh. “I’ll ride this wave as long as I can.”

Emigh has benefited from a couple of specific factors. He’s riding first call for owner Bill Stiritz and his private trainer, Scott Becker, and that pair has done especially well on the Chicago circuit this year. Also, purses here, pared to the bone, have winnowed the jockey colony, especially late this racing season. But credit Emigh for being in a position to take advantage of those circumstances.

“I was going through a divorce the last couple years and finally got through all of that, which feels good,” Emigh said. “Getting good stock, especially through Scott Becker, gets you riding good, back in rhythm. My agent, Jodie Sinclair, and I have really clicked, and I’ve been pretty lucky with my body right now staying healthy. I love what I’m doing. That’s what keeps me going.”

Emigh plans to ride the rest of the Hawthorne meet, which runs through year’s end, and if he holds his lead in the jockey standings, it will be his eighth local title, a Hawthorne record.

Fordubai sprints in comeback

Fordubai easily is the most accomplished horse among six entered in the featured race 3 on Saturday at Hawthorne, but this open allowance race is carded for 6 1/2 furlongs, and Fordubai, making his first start since April, is a route horse merely shaking off rust before going south for the winter. He has been working steadily and encouragingly for trainer Greg Geier, but in a race that’s too short for him, Fordubai’s odds will be too short to take a chance that he can adapt.

Goesse has a chance as the potential controlling speed, but Helooksthepart, a Hawthorne specialist with five wins and three thirds from eight local starts, looks to be the most likely winner.