Carl Rafter closes ground in jockey standings
Carl Rafter went on a tear in May, collecting eight of his ten 2010 victories during the month and moving into second place in the National Steeplechase Association standings by races won and purses. From 40 mounts through July 1, the English-born jockey also had five second-place finishes and three thirds, with purse earnings of $196,900.
Rafter, 33, had a triple at the 80th Radnor Hunt Races on May 15, including the afternoon’s two stakes races. He won the $40,000 Radnor Hunt Cup with Keystone Thoroughbreds’ Meet At Eleven and then arrived just in time to take the $50,000 National Hunt Cup with Oakwood Stable’s Country Cousin for trainer Julie Gomena. He closed out the Radnor program with an easy score aboard Chadds Ford Stables’ Saluda Sam in the $20,000 Henry Collins for trainer Kathy McKenna. In all, his mounts won $73,150 at Radnor.
His success continued at the Fair Hill Races on May 29, when he collected two victories. In a maiden claiming hurdle, his mount Sword of Dubai was moved up to the winner’s position on a disqualification, and he won the James Stump Memorial timber race aboard Irvin S. Naylor’s Fieldview. Both Sword of Dubai and Fieldview are trained by McKenna.
Rafter started out the month with a victory aboard Julia Thieriot’s Fantastic Foe in an optional claiming race at the Virginia Gold Cup on May 1, and he collected a graded stakes victory in the Iroquois Races’ $50,000 Marcellus Frost (Gr. 3) aboard Gregg Ryan’s Dynantonia for Gomena on May 8. The following day, he won the Marshall Jenney Memorial maiden timber race on Fieldview.
In the 2010 standings, Rafter trails only 2009 champion jockey Paddy Young, who had 13 wins and purse earnings of $356,900 through July 1.
