David Cora gets 2,500th career win
Jockey David Cora’s been on a bit of a heater to start 2022. The veteran rider has won with 10 of 49 starters, a 20% clip, thus far in the young season.
That’s even better news for Cora than it seems because it’s allowed him to reach a career milestone. Cora recorded the 2,500th victory of his career Feb. 9 at Penn National.
- What we learned on Maryland Juvenile Stakes dayHere’s what we learned at Laurel Park for Saturday’s Maryland Juvenile and Maryland Juvenile Filly Stakes.
Cora earned the milestone victory when he piloted Boneyardholler to a neck victory in Wednesday’s third race at Penn National, a $7,500 maiden claimer.
Boneyardholler, trained by Bruce Levine for Deuce Greathouse, bided his time in midflight early, sixth of the 10 runners. He moved up closer rounding the turn, and then was able to surge through inside to outfinish Rebel Ruler narrowly to earn the win. It was the Classic Empire gelding’s first win from three career starts.
Cora, a 41-year-old native of Peru, currently ranks fourth among Penn National jockeys with 10 wins. Julio Hernandez has 21 wins to lead the colony. Cora is fifth with $130,771 in purse earnings.
For his career, Cora has logged his 2,500 victories from 16,854 starts, a 15% strike rate. He began riding in North America in 2000, winning with 46 of 629 starters.
He followed that up with the three highest win totals of his career, scoring 300 times in 2001, 295 in 2002, and 244 in 2003. His 2002 total was the fourth-highest in the nation, and his 2001 win mark was seventh.
In 2013, Cora enjoyed the most lucrative season of his career. His 180 wins (from 962 starts) helped him post purse earnings of nearly $3.4 million. In all, Cora’s mounts have earned nearly $38 million.
Among the top horses he’s ridden are Cardashi, with whom he won the 2009 Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup, and Raging Smoke, with whom he won the 2014 New Start Stakes. According to Equibase, Cora has won 12 stakes in his career.
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