Gaffalione feasts on stakes for Thanksgiving

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Thanksgiving Day at Churchill hardly could have gone any better for Tyler Gaffalione. The 25-year-old jockey swept the co-features, the Grade 2 Falls City and Grade 3 Cardinal, further punctuating what already has been a breakthrough season while building momentum for his return to his Florida home.

Gaffalione came from off the pace to capture the Falls City on the main track aboard favored Mylady Curlin, then used similar tactics an hour later when rallying from farther back on the turf to take the Cardinal aboard Kallio, a 14-1 shot. Both races were for fillies and mares going 1 1/8 miles.

Gaffalione enjoyed his greatest score when he guided War of Will to victory in the May 18 Preakness. His 2019 mount earnings into Friday stood at a career-high $14.3 million as he prepares for four months of action at Gulfstream Park, where his career began in 2014. The leading jockey at the 2018 fall meets at Keeneland and Churchill, Gaffalione trailed only Corey Lanerie in wins (30-25) into the last three days of this meet.