Trainer JD Perrin reached the 1,000 career win mark when Cheyenne Louie posted an upset victory in the tenth race at Buffalo Raceway on Saturday night.
Since 2014, Perrin has had three training titles at Buffalo Raceway and four at Batavia Downs along with several second place finishes on the Western New York circuit.
Things started out slowly for the 34-year-old Perrin as he started his training vocation in 2003 with just one start. He registered his first conditioning victory in 2005 and had just 89 trips to the winners circle through 2011. Things then exploded for him starting in 2012.
Perrin had 96 winners in 317 tries in 2012 with his career best coming in 2016 when he scored 154 victories and $727,983 in purse earnings.
Recently, he just passed $4.5 million in career winnings.
Perrin will hop on the sulky occasionally where he has produced 350 career driving wins.
It didn't take Perrin long to start his bid on the next thousand wins as two races further on the card, Littlebitaclass collected the $26.20 victory for him in the $12,500 Class AA Open pace.
Watching the heavily favoured Fireyourguns (Mike Caprio) step off fractions of :28.3, :57.3 and 1:27, Littlebitaclass had to overcome Western Passage (Cummings) in the shadow of the wire to post the nose score in 1:56. Rose Run Ranger (Ray Fisher, Jr.) rallied for third.
Owned by Tessa Roland, the eight-year-old gelded Littlebitaclass (Santanna Blue Chip-Asperine Semalu) has now been triumphant five times in 19 tries. The win upped his 2019 winnings to $35,730 and $297,100 lifetime.
Upfront Countryboy (Jim Morrill, Jr.) went first over and cruised on by in the stretch to capture the co-featured $11,500 Class AA Open pace in a seasonal best 1:53.4.
Sitting fourth just before the half-mile pole, Upfront Countryboy ($5.40) began a steady drive to the lead, collaring the pace-setting China Dream at the three-quarter marker. From there, it was smooth sailing to the finish line as Upfront Countryboy beat Charmbo Orbit (David McNeight III) by a comfortable length. Heaven Rocks (Drew Monti) took third place.
Owned by William Emmons and trained by James Clouser, Jr., Upfront Countryboy (Dragon Again-Cambloid) is a 10-year-old gelding that has now produced $35,975 in earnings on the campaign and $484,395 lifetime.
In the pair of $10,000 Class A paces, Lucan Hanover ($8.70) was the quickest of all in the lane and worked out a half length decision over A F F Bigdaddy in 1:56.4 for driver Billy Davis, Jr. The other bracket saw Race Me Rocky (Monti) make his Buffalo Raceway debut a winning one by taking a length victory over Lucky Nadotremblay in 1:58 and returned $9.40 to his backers.
Monti and Cummings each had four wins on the card while Perrin, John Mungillo, Gerry Sarama and Richard Roth had a pair of training victories each.
Racing will return on Wednesday evening with a 12-race card set for 5 p.m. The New York Sire Stakes will make its first appearance of the season as the three-year-old colt and gelding pacers will square off. There will also be action in the Excelsior A and B Series.
(Buffalo Raceway)