Trainer Mike Mitchell scores maximum victories at Del Mar as Backwoods Belle wins the fifth race
“I had looked at this four or five years ago and I got it done”, said Mike Mitchell after he became the most successful trainer at Del Mar on Friday with 437 victories to his name. Backwoods Belle was the first to cross the wire in the sixth race on Friday, 12th August.
Mike had a tie with Ronald McAnally until Friday, who has his name in the Hall of Fame for trainers in The National Museum for Thoroughbreds.
Backwoods Belle won the fifth race by six and a quarter’s length. Mike Mitchell had hoped that his thoroughbred, Devour, would bag the race but Devour finished the race third.
However, it was a good thing that Backwoods Belle and not Devour marked his victory as his wife and daughter, Denise and Shea, were held up by the traffic during the second race and would not have been there in his hour of glory.
Mike Mitchell’s Family and friends were present on the occasion including his wife, daughters and son-in-laws, Shea, McCall and Craig Rounsefell.
Denise had been working for a mission in Vietnam and Shea works for Disney. They were both busy with work but they made it for Mike which made his victory even sweeter."Everybody got here. This was a fun thing to do”, said an overjoyed Mike.
It was a race filled with suspense. Backwoods Belle slowly caught up with Jessakar in the first stretch.
Garrett Gomez, the jockey riding Backwoods Belle, steadily guided Backwoods Belle to overtake Jessakar and win the race by six and a quarter’s length.
The two year old filly, Backwoods Belle, is owned by Nick Alexander. Mike Mitchell really wanted Backwoods Belle to win not just for his sake but for Nick too.
He said,"...to win it for my guy Nick makes it special again. He and I have been together for thirty years".
Mike Mitchell said that he is back in the claiming game and its good for him but would not stop now. It is necessary for him to keep going and set new records for others to break.
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