Arlington Barn Notes: Thursday, May 2, 2019

By Grant LaGrange —-

• Emigh going for 4,000 career wins
• Rivelli aiming at seven straight training titles

EMIGH GOING FOR 4,000 WINS

Chris Emigh won his first race in 1989 as an 18-year-old riding the Southern Louisiana circuit. 29 years later he is sitting on 3,983 wins coming into the 2019 Arlington park meet where he has found plenty of success over the years. He sits third on the Arlington Park all-time winningest jockeys behind Hall of Famers Earlie Fires, and Pat Day.

Emigh couldn’t be more excited at the fact that he’s nearing this milestone coming into the Arlington Park meet,

“It’s what I was hoping. It’s been home for me for so long and the people here, the crowd, the celebration, everything. This is a dream track and I was really hoping it wouldn’t happen anywhere else but here.”

For Emigh, being underestimated when he was younger was something he just learned to deal with. Even he didn’t feel as though he was a very good rider back in those days, but he always had one number in mind. 4,000.

“I told myself if I consistently work hard, wake up every day and give everything I’ve got to this, one day I can reach 4,000. 4,000 wins was the number; it’s always been the number. I knew if I reached 4,000 no one would ever be able to tell me I wasn’t a good rider.”

On opening day Emigh is named to ride 8 races, and on day two of the meet Emigh will be riding 9 races. He is 17 races away from reaching his lifelong goal of 4,000 wins.

RIVELLI AIMING AT SEVEN STRAIGHT TRAINING TITLES

Larry Rivelli has will have his sights set on winning his seventh straight training title when the 2019 Arlington Park meet begins on Friday.

Rivelli has found history book worthy success over the past decade at Arlington Park. In 2017 he broke the single season win record with 79 victories, surpassing the previous record held by Wayne Catalano who saddled 75 winners in 2010. To follow up his record year, in 2018 Rivelli made 76 trips to the winner’s circle.

Although he has no plans of slowing down, Rivelli isn’t focused on the seventh straight title as much as one might expect,

“Honestly it’s not something I’m that worried about, I mean, of course the goal is always to win and we take pride in always putting our horse in the best spot to win, but this year we are focusing more quality over quantity.”

“Now don’t get me wrong, if we’re close at the end of the meet it will get my attention and I’ll focus on it, but it’s not something I’m focusing on at the moment”

Even with Rivelli not making seven straight his main priority, it will still be tough to compete with the numbers he puts up at Arlington Park.

Rivelli has five entered on opening day Friday.