On the occasion of his 5,000th North American victory yesterday aboard Catch A Flight, let's take a look back at the Hall of Fame riding career of Gary Stevens, one of the greatest jockeys in American racing history.
Only two fillies have won the Run for the Roses in the past 99 editions, one of them being Winning Colors, with a 25-year-old Stevens in the saddle.
Gary's next Kentucky Derby victory, his second of three, came aboard another D. Wayne Lukas trainee, Thunder Gulch.
Only two years later, Stevens would make a thrilling run at a Triple Crown with the courageous Silver Charm.
But as excellent as Silver Charm was, it may have been another horse Stevens rode to two-thirds of the Triple Crown that was his best. Here is Point Given demonstrating his dominance in the Belmont Stakes.
As would be expected from a Hall of Fame rider, Stevens has found great success in the World Championships, including his first Breeders' Cup victory aboard In the Wings.
Gary Stevens won plenty of races outside the U.S., including north of the border, where he guided Da Hoss to his first of two Breeders' Cup Mile scores.
Stevens won the Breeders' Cup Distaff three times including this shocker in the 1994 edition aboard the 47-1 longshot, One Dreamer.
More recently, Stevens' BC Distaff success came aboard the multiple champion mare, Beholder.
While Beholder gave Stevens his first Breeders' Cup victory since his comeback, and in more than a decade, it was the win the following day aboard Mucho Macho Man, that finally gave him his first BC Classic.
As mentioned, Stevens also found much success internationally, but perhaps his biggest win abroad came aboard an old American friend in Silver Charm winning a Dubai World Cup thriller.
And finally, perhaps the most special of all of Gary's career of important wins, came after the comeback. Surprising most of us aboard Oxbow, the 50-year-old Steven rode a masterful race, and in the process gave his longtime associate, 77-year-old D. Wayne Lukas, his sixth Preakness victory.
