Trainer O’Connell Gets 1,800th Career Win

 

HorseracingFLA Staff Report

Trainer Kathleen O’Connell won her 1,800th career race on Saturday with Bettarun Realfast in the second race at Churchill Downs.

Our research, including  reviews of Equibase charts, indicates O’Connell is second in all-time wins among women trainers in North America.

Kim Hammond, who trains mostly in Indiana and other mid-western states, leads with 2,086.

Bettarun Realfast’s win was in a five-furlong turf claimer for 3-year-olds and up. Ronald Alllen Jr. was the rider

O’Connell has 37 wins in Tampa Bay’s 2015-2016 meet, placing her third in the trainer standings.  The final two days of the meet are today (Sunday) and June 30.

She has won training titles at two Tampa Bay meets and  at one meet at Calder Race Course.

Her list of stakes wins includes Watch Me Go in the  2011 Tampa  Bay Derby (Grade 2).

— Photo by  Barry Unterbrink