Great Lakes Downs track report

Jockey Federico "Freddy" Mata rode back-to-back winners Tuesday to reach the 2,000-win plateau in his career. He won the third race on Total Expressions ($15) for trainer James White, and the fourth on Realbean ($7.60) for trainer Shane Spiess.

Mata, 36, rode his first race in 1988 at Detroit Race Course, under contract with the late Hiram Tackett, and got his first win in 1989 aboard Tackett's Revamp. He has ridden at Great Lakes since it opened in 1999, and won the riding title in 2000. He is currently third in the rider standings with 86 wins. The native of Mexico is married with two daughters and a son.

The winner's circle was full of well wishers, including trainer Bob Gorham, who was one of Tackett's owners back in Detroit and was one of Mata's early boosters. Spiess, the trainer of Mata's 2,000th winner, was himself honored by the track last week when he saddled his 1,000th career winner.

* Gorham blew up the toteboard in Monday's $50,000 Patrick Wood Stakes with Out With a Bang, who paid $238.80 to win and $88.40 to place.

* James Jackson saddled the one-two finishers in Saturday's Sickle Image Stakes for juvenile fillies. Fiji Island ($3.20) won easily with jockey Luis Martinez, who was coming back from a shoulder injury. Ro Parra's Millennium Farms owns both Fiji Island and Money Code, the second-place finisher.

* Racing secretary Allan Plever announced a 20 percent increase in overnight purses due to increased handle and the elimination of Sunday racing in October.