Waters improves to 5 for 5

He may not be a top-10 trainer, but nobody at Great Lakes Downs has a better winning percentage than Karl Waters. On Tuesday, Waters saddled Great Facts for his fourth straight win over this five-furlong oval. Add in a win by Ocala Gold, and Waters is 5 for 5 at the meet.

Waters has raced here since the inaugural meet in 1999, but left this year and moved to Kentucky, from where he ships his runners. A former Thoroughbred jockey, Waters also rode Quarter Horses at Mt. Pleasant Meadows while training at this western Michigan track.

The Waters-owned Great Facts won his maiden here in 2006 and came back here on May 21. He won on July 14 and July 31 before his victory on Tuesday. Waters's girlfriend, Patricia Trimble, was the winning rider Tuesday.

Ocala Gold, owned by Patty and Mike Vance, won here on Aug. 4.

* Felipe Santos, the regular rider for Waters, will be out five to six weeks with a broken collarbone, according to his agent, Louis Alosso. Santos, eighth in the jockey standings, has won 25 races at the meet.

Santos took a spectacular fall Saturday evening when his mount, Track'n Dixie, was caught in close quarters in midstretch in the seventh race. After being unseated, he bounced off the hindquarters of the eventual winner. He was able to walk back to the jockeys' room under his own power but X-rays revealed the broken clavicle. A native of the Dominican Republic, Santos became a U.S. citizen last year.

* A total of 39 yearlings will be on the auction block Aug. 26 at the MTOBA yearling show and sale at the Michigan State University Pavilion in East Lansing. The show will start at 9 a.m. with the sale to follow at 1 p.m. Online catalogs are available at mtoba.com.