Jockey Arnaldo Bocachica and trainer Jeff Runco have won a lot of big races together at Charles Town Races. But one of the most memorable came with a nickel claimer.

In the third race last Wednesday night at Charles, Bocachica steered Thunderturtle to a mild upset in a $5,000 claiming event for fillies and mares for Runco and owner H. Neil Glasser. The win gave Bocachica, gunning for his eighth straight Charles Town riding title, 3,000 wins for his career.

Yet it was quite contrary to the numerous horses many would associate the trainer-jockey combination with at the venue. Bocachica has won countless state-bred stakes with Runco trainees, including an unthinkable seven on one historic West Virginia Breeders’ Classics night card when they accounted for both the Cavada and the Classic.

With each passing milestone, Bocachica remains grateful for the success that he’s enjoyed during his 20 years in the irons. He won 216 races in 2007 when he still rode primarily as an apprentice. But his win total dropped to 76 the next year, kicking off a span of seven years in which he won fewer than 100 races four times.

Bocachica, it appeared, would toil the remainder of his career as an anonymous journeyman.

“This milestone meant a lot to me,” Bocachica said the afternoon after his 3,000^th win. “It reminded me how much I worked to get to that level. I am so grateful for all the owners and trainers that put their faith in me. I’ve won a lot of races for Jeff. He’s never doubted me. But there was a time 15 years or so ago when I thought I might be lucky to win 40-50 races each year. I never imagined that I would win 1,000 races, let alone 3,000 races.”

Bocachica regained prominence in 2015 when he booted home 166 winners, which helped kickstart his career. He has since ridden at least 200 winners in a season three times, including a career-best 260 in 2021. Much of that success has come aboard Runco trainees, including recent West Virginia-bred stars like millionaire Muad’dib, 12-for-15 Star of Night, and graded stakes winner Coastal Mission, the reigning two-time West Virginia-bred horse of the year.

“I’ve really been fortunate to ride some really good horses for Jeff, especially in the last five, six years,” Bocachica said of the longtime local trainer. “I mean, Muad’dib and Coastal Mission are really like one-in-a-lifetime West Virginia-breds, and I’ve been fortunate to ride them both. Then Star of Night and Duncan Idaho and the list is really long.”

On September 20, Bocachica guided Coastal Mission to a third-place finish in the $300,000 Parx Dirt Mile, a race the Great Notion gelding had won the year before.

He then headed back to Charles Town and steered Gurney Halleck to a gritty, half-length victory over Chuck Town in the $75,000 Henry Mercer Memorial Stakes that same night for Runco. Bocachica took pride in knowing both horses were primed for, and delivered, their best efforts.

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“Coastal Mission had been off like three or four months, but he was really working good leading up to that race at Parx,” Bocachica recalled. “I thought he raced really good. I mean, at the top of the lane I thought we were winning it. But he couldn’t get to that top two, but it was definitely a really good effort and I was pleased with the way he ran.”

Gurney Halleck had finished second to Chuck Town in both runners’ debuts Sept. 6. But Bocachica believed the horse could turn the tables.

“I really wanted to be back at Charles Town to ride Gurney Halleck in that stakes. He had been second [to Chuck Town] in that maiden race and I told Jeff I thought he could win the stakes race next time out,” the rider said. “There was a lot of speed in there and when I moved him he really finished up well and he beat that other colt.”

With the West Virginia Breeders’ Classics just around the corner, Bocachica knows that the evening will once again prove to be very busy. He hopes to have some success but isn’t counting on another night like 2021, when he and Runco teamed up to win seven times, with Boca adding an eighth win for trainer Ollie Figgins, III.

“I know it will be a busy night,” Bocachica said of the WVBC card. “I might have 10 mounts and all of them could be for Jeff. It would be nice to win a few more of them, but I don’t expect to get seven or eight winners like a few years ago. I never expected a night like that, ever.”

There’s another milestone in Boca’s sight, but it’s not for himself. For his part, Runco is also closing in on a major milestone. The trainer has 4,873 wins through October 2 and could reach 5,000 late next year or early in 2026.

“I hope I’m aboard for Jeff when he gets to 5,000 [wins],” the rider said. “Maybe it could even be on Breeders’ Classics night next year. I think that would make it really special.”