Keeneland: Rider Elliot wins 5 of 14 mounts over opening weekend

As one person said via Twitter about Stewart Elliott as the veteran jockey piled up win after win on opening weekend, he didn’t come to Keeneland “for the flowers or the coeds.”

Indeed, Elliott was all business, winning with five out of 14 mounts, including a three-bagger on a Saturday card with a crowd of 27,688 in attendance.

Best known for his rides aboard Smarty Jones in the 2004 Triple Crown, Elliott intends to ride the Keeneland and Churchill Downs spring meets and the summer meet at Saratoga. It’s a marked departure from prior years, when he rode primarily at Parx in Philadelphia and other Eastern seaboard tracks.

Elliott, a 49-year-old native of Canada, has 4,623 career wins, 36th-most all-time and 14th among active jockeys.