Trainer McLean wins 1,00th race at Golden Gate Fields
Trainer Bill McLean won his 1,000th race Sunday at Golden Gate Fields when Kyle Frey guided Moogie Woogie ($11) through an opening in the upper stretch and guided the 5-year-old gelding to a neck victory in a four-way photo in a $12,500 claiming race at one mile.
McLean, a native of Cloverdale, British Columbia, has been training since 1971 after getting his start under trainers Carl Baze and Troy Taylor in the Northwest. He split time between Northern California and the Northwest until permanently settling in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1998.
McLean was on a hot streak leading up to his milestone victory, saddling three winners from his previous 19 starters. Included among the winners were Pure Comedy, who paid $102.40 as his 997th winner the previous Sunday, and Private Joke, who returned $143.20 on Saturday as his 999th winner.
“I was talking to Russell Baze and he told me, ‘When I was getting close to 10,000 [wins] I couldn’t win a race!’” McLean said after the race. “I was hoping it would be different for me. Kyle rode a perfect race. We’re there, mate.”