BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL—Jockey Rajiv Maragh moved closer to his 2,000th career win after guiding MHM Stables’ 2-year-old Florida-bred colt Augustinian to victory in Sunday’s second race at Gulfstream Park, his lone mount on the card.
The 1-2 favorite over six rivals trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Augustinian had run second in four of his first five starts, three of them with Maragh aboard including each of the last two, beaten twice by a neck.
Wearing blinkers for the first time and breaking from the rail in a five-furlong maiden special weight that was rained off the grass to the all-weather Tapeta course, Augustinian was away alertly and led every step before opening up through the stretch to win by six lengths in 55.94 seconds.
Augustinian paid $3 to win.
Maragh is named in two races when the Championship Meet resumes Thursday. In Race 2, a $12,500 maiden claimer for 2-year-old fillies sprinting six furlongs on the main track, he will be aboard Sport of Kings Racing Partners’ Fierce Fairshinda, taking a class drop after finishing off the board in a pair of maiden special weights.
Race 6 is a six-furlong claimer for 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds and older which have never won four races. Maragh has the return call on Nikotim Stable’s sophomore Florida-bred Feeling Macho, a two-time winner this summer at Charles Town that ran fourth in his local debut Oct. 24 sprinting seven furlongs.
Maragh has earned more than $104 million in purses since 2004 and won Grade 1 races aboard such horses as Groupie Doll, Wicked Strong, Tizway, Main Sequence, Caleb’s Posse, Diamondrella, Music Note, Seventh Street, Little Belle, By the Moon, Artemis Agrotera, Currency Swap and Zo Impressive.
Return to the December 2 issue of Wire to Wire
