Grams closes in on 1,000 wins

Relying on streaks of success at Charles Town, trainer Timothy Grams is well on his way to 1,000 victories. With three wins last week, the 61-year-old trainer now stands at 996 in his career and has several live runners who could put him over in the next few weeks.

There are those in the racing industry who use career milestones as benchmarks for success. Grams isn’t one of them.

“As far as how many races we win, as long as I got a couple dollars in the bank, that all doesn’t bother me too much,” Grams said.

In 2019, the trainer made headlines when Runnin’toluvya won the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic. The gelding went on to run 30 times for Grams between 2016 and 2019, winning 16 races and earning $1.1 million.

In three days at Charles Town last week, Grams earned a win on each card. Two of the horses, 3-year-old colt Moonlit Notion and 4-year-old filly Moonlit Kiss, are full siblings by Great Notion and were bred by Grams and his wife, Judy, an active partner in Grams Racing Stable LLC.

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Their dam, 11-year-old mare Moonlit Song, won four stakes races for Grams in her racing career and is enjoying similar success for the family in breeding.

“She’s been a nice mare for us, not only on the track, but it looks like she’s going to have a productive life as a broodmare,” Grams said. “It doesn’t always work out like that, but so far, it looks like she’s going to do fine.”

With his April 18 win, Moonlit Notion improved to 5 for 5 to begin his career. The colt faced open company for the first time in a $28,800 allowance and proved superior again at 4 1/2 furlongs, pulling away to win by 2 1/2 lengths.

Not to be outdone by her younger sibling, Moonlit Kiss returned from a four-month layoff the following day and won her third straight race in allowance competition. Now 7 for 12 in her career, the filly has proven similarly capable at short sprint distances.

Creed Calling, a 3-year-old filly owned by Dennis Finger, dropped in class to win a $12,500 maiden-claiming race on April 17, Grams’s first victory of the week.

Before his three trips to the winner’s circle in consecutive days, Grams had not won a race since March 27. He may need to push through another valley or two before he reaches the four-digit milestone, but his recent results suggest it could happen all at once with the right runners in the gate.

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