Lone Star: Calhoun wins No. 2,000

Trainer Bret Calhoun won the 2,000th race of his career Thursday when favored Forty Winks won the third race during evening racing at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Tex.

Calhoun, who operates a large stable with divisions based primarily in Texas and Kentucky, is best known for having trained two Breeders’ Cup winners in 2010 at Churchill Downs: Dubai Majesty in the Filly and Mare Sprint and Chamberlain Bridge in the Turf Sprint.

Dubai Majesty was later voted champion female sprinter of that year, the only Eclipse Award-winning horse that Calhoun has trained.

A native of Dallas, he won his first race in April of 1994 at the now defunct Trinity Meadows in the Dallas area, and his ascent in the training ranks, slow at first, escalated over the last 10 years. He has been the leading trainer at Lone Star Park the past two years, and was the ninth leading trainer in the country in 2011 by victories.

“It’s pretty exciting that it happened there, at my home track,” said Calhoun, 47. “It’s been a long time. You never expect to win that many races. It’s a significant amount. It feels good.”