Gallardo sets single-season wins record

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Jockey Antonio Gallardo set a new single-season mark for races won at Tampa Bay Downs when he guided Silver Halo to a neck victory in Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile ninth race for $8,000 claiming routers for his 145th victory of the meet.

Gallardo, who dominated the rider standings throughout the meeting, piloted Silver Halo for one of his main backers, trainer Kathleen O’Connell, then had to withstand a claim of foul from Jose A. Garcia aboard the runner-up Abu’s Dream before the record-setting win was declared official.

Gallardo, who added two wins on Sunday’s final day of the winter portion of the 2014-15 meeting to give him a grand total of 147 victories for 90 days of the 91-day stand. Tampa runs one additional racing program to complete the meeting June 30. Gallardo’s total tops the previous mark of 144 wins at a single meeting set by Daniel Centeno during the 2007-08 meeting.

This is the third straight riding title for Gallardo, who also topped the standings here last season, then moved to Presque Isle, where he wound up leading rider at that track’s 2014 summer-fall meeting.