Trainer Chris Englehart reaches 4,000 Thoroughbred-win milestone

Chris Englehart became the 11th trainer in history to win 4,000 Thoroughbred races when he sent out Prince Supreme to win the fifth race at Finger Lakes on Saturday.

Englehart races at Finger Lakes and at the New York Racing Association tracks, but it was fitting he reached the milestone upstate, where he has won 15 training titles, including 13 straight from 2003 to 2015.

John Davila Jr. rode Prince Supreme in the $12,500 claiming race. Davila and Englehart have won 1,746 races together.

Englehart has been training since 1974, the same year that he married his wife, Sheila.

"It's good to get the win," Englehart said. "My wife and I have been going hard since I started out. There are so many people to thank, a lot of owners, but after the race all I could think about is that only the two of us have been there the whole way."

Chris, 61, was born in Canandaigua, N.Y., where Finger Lakes is located. He and Sheila have six children.

"They've all been involved in racing in one way or another," Englehart said.

Jeremiah Englehart, like his father, is a successful trainer who races at Finger Lakes and the NYRA tracks. He won the Finger Lakes training title last year, ending his father's reign. Jeremiah has more than 1,050 wins.

Jeffrey Englehart also is a trainer. The Englehart's other children are Jesse, Joe, Justin, and Christie.

Chris Englehart currently has about 90 horses in training. He has 30 at Belmont Park with Manny Gonzalez, who has been his assistant the past 20 years, and 60 horses upstate.

Englehart has a lifetime win average of 22 percent and purse earnings of $45.3 million. He has won 3,229 races at Finger Lakes, 210 at Aqueduct, 91 at Belmont, and 29 at Saratoga. He also has 335 wins at Mountaineer Park.

He won his 3,000th race at Finger Lakes in August 2011.

"We're going to try to go for 5,000 now," he said.