Keeneland: Maker sets spring meet training record

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Two down, one to go.

Four days after owner Ken Ramsey set the record for wins at the spring meet, his principal trainer, Mike Maker, set the record for training victories at the spring meet when winning the first race at Keeneland on Wednesday. It was the trainer’s 17th win at the meet.

Not surprisingly, the record-making horse, Bernie the Maestro, is owned by Ramsey and was ridden by Joel Rosario, the owner-trainer’s go-to rider at the spring meet. With the win on Bernie the Maestro, Rosario got his 27th win of the meet, in easy striking distance of the spring-meet record of 32, set by Randy Romero in 1992, setting up the possibility that the trio of Ramsey-Maker-Rosario could combine for all three spring-meet records this year.

Maker, who is based in Kentucky, broke a record set by Todd Pletcher at the 2005 spring meet. In 2008, Maker won the fall meet title at Keeneland with nine wins.

“If you’re going to break a record, Keeneland is the place to do it,” Maker said.

Through the seventh race, Maker had won two other races on the Wednesday card, giving him 19. Rosario also won another three, giving him 30.