Skerrett, Stanley in tight battle at Pinnacle

The Pinnacle Race Course season ends on Monday and the jockeys' race has once again tightened up between Jeffrey Skerrett and Angel Stanley.

Skerrett took over the lead on July 28 and kept it until Oct. 10, when Stanley rode four winners to take the lead. Skerrett attained a tie with Stanley with a win on Monday, then won a pair of races on Tuesday and is currently one up in the standings.

Skerrett has 96 wins through 71 days of racing. Freddie Mata, who held the lead for a week back in August, is in third with 86 wins. Ricardo Barrios, who led from the start of the meet until Mata took over, is recuperating from a neck injury and will be away from racing at least another two weeks.

* Michigan fixture Richard Rettele delegated his training duties to others Tuesday so he could go to Beulah Park and ride three winners. The 69-year-old trainer, who gallops his own horses every morning, still rides Quarter Horses every chance he gets for his wife, Carol. On Tuesday the team won a Maturity with Beduinos Cat, as well as two futurity trials.

* Jockey Godofredo Laurente rode four winners from six mounts on Monday to move into fifth place with 42 winners. He won the opener with veteran Rollin Bonez ($6.20) before scoring with three longshots. Laurente rode Kolsch ($47.20) to victory in the fifth race, Little Ricki ($50) in the sixth, and Who on First ($17.20) in the seventh.

Laurente had one winner on Tuesday. Run Up the Score ($12.60) won the seventh race to give trainer James Jackson his 2,001st career victory. His 2,000th came Sunday at Mountaineer with Classy Wonder.