Trainer Wayne Catalano reaches 3,000-win milestone

Wayne Catalano became the 39th trainer to record 3,000 wins when Alilnalot captured the fourth race Sunday at Ellis Park.

Catalano has chased the milestone for the better part of a year, coming into the weekend with 2,997 winners and quickly reaching his goal with two winners Saturday before Alilnalot’s tally the following afternoon.

Catalano got to 3,000 with 15,157 runners during a training career dating to 1983, a strong 19 percent strike rate on obviously high volume. From the early 2000s through 2013, Catalano made hay every summer at Arlington Park, where he won 11 training titles: 1,115 of Catalano’s winners came at Arlington, which Churchill Downs Inc. closed after an abbreviated 2021 racing season. Catalano has saddled 48 graded-stakes winners and won Breeders’ Cup races with Dreaming of Anna, She Be Wild, Stephanie’s Kitten, and Aloha West.

Catalano, who turns 68 later this month, was born and raised in New Orleans, where he caught on at age 16 as a hotwalker for legendary trainer Jack Van Berg. Catalano learned lessons in horsemanship first, then became a successful jockey, riding more than 1,500 winners before chronically sore knees forced a move from riding to training.

Catalano early in 2023 already had his eye on 3,000 winners. Sunday, he hit the target.

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