Horse Racing

DEL MAR - Corey Nakatani passed his idol, Laffit Pincay Jr., and moved into second place on the all-time list for Del Mar stakes victories Saturday.

But he's hungry for more.

Nakatani, a Covina native, now is setting his sights on Chris McCarron's record 134 stakes victories at the seaside track.

"I'm 38 years old," Nakatani said after guiding 14-1 long shot Global Hunter to a one-length victory over Awesome Gem in the $350,000 Grade I Eddie Read Stakes. "I'm not that old, so I feel like I'm in my prime. I know what I'm doing on the horse's back, and hopefully I can get the horsemen on my side and give me the opportunity to break that record of McCarron's. I think I can do it."

Nakatani tied Pincay with a win in the CTBA Stakes for 2-year-old fillies Friday, and it took him less than 24 hours to record No. 96 and give trainer A.C. Avila the first Grade 1 win of his career since coming to the U.S. from Brazil in 1973.

Now that he's healthy and fixed an admitted attitude problem, Nakatani hopes he can return to winning jockey titles and winning the top Southland stakes races on a regular basis.

While he was sitting atop Global Hunter in the winner's circle, track announcer Trevor Denman informed the on-track crowd of 20,379 it was Nakatani's third win of the afternoon, something that hasn't happened with great frequency since his last Del Mar riding title in 2004.

For more, check out Bet on Horses at SPORTSBETTING.COM.