Chris Page reached a major driving milestone when he piloted Later Dudes to victory in the fifth race at Eldorado Scioto Downs on Tuesday, July 28 to reach 8,000 wins in his career.

Page, who entered the card on 7,998, first won with Fools Rush In ($2.80) in the second race. He then commanded Later Dudes to the lead, and the nine-year-old Sweet Lou-Lovely Assistant gelding was never headed in a three-length score in 1:51 for trainer Ron Burke and owners Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC.

Win number 8,000 for Page came nearly 25 years to the week after his first lifetime victory. He debuted in the sulky in July 2000 at the Knox County Fair in his hometown of Mount Vernon, Ohio. He recorded his first victory on Aug. 5, 2001, when he won with Titanic Fella for trainer Erik Hall in a 2:09 mile going for $800 at the Champaign County Fair in Urbana, Ohio.

Page’s driving career started to take off in 2006, when he logged 750 starts. His workload exceeded 1,000 drives for the first time in 2009, and he has recorded at least 2,000 each year since 2013. He has also won 400 or more races for each of the last 13 seasons, except for the COVID-19-affected 2020.

To date, the 42-year-old reinsman has 46,607 starts and $97.6 million in purse earnings. He has won 10 Jerry Kaltenbach Memorial Trophies, awarded to the driver (and trainer) who earns the most in that year’s Ohio Sires Stakes action. Page, Scioto’s 2025 leading driver, accomplished a childhood dream back in 2022 when he piloted Bythemissal to victory in the Little Brown Jug.

Page, who had four wins on the 14-race Tuesday program, currently leads the Scioto standings, three tallies ahead of 25-year-old Luke Hanners.

Racing continues at Scioto on Wednesday with a 14-race card and 16-race cards Thursday through Saturday. Post time each day is 5:25 p.m.

(With files from Scioto Downs)