TORONTO, Canada, CMC – Barbadian jockey Keveh Nicholls extended his late-season form while riding a brace on Friday’s eight-race card at Woodbine.
The 37-year-old logged back-to-back successes, capturing the CAN$54 500 race five with a 4-1 bet Always a Way and following up in the $24 400 race six with an 11-1 choice Mambointheforest.
Nicholls has 26 wins from 235 rides and earnings of $996 120 in the season, which is set to wrap up on December 17.
Japanese Kazushi Kimura is the runway leader with 145 wins, while multiple-times champion Barbadian Patrick Husbands is the highest-placed Caribbean rider in sixth with 56 victories and $3.4 million in money.
Nicholls opened his account over seven furlongs when he guided the bay colt Always a Way to a three-quarter length score over the two-year-olds.
Candid Candace and Natural Star battled early on as the pace returned fractions of 24.15 seconds for the quarter and 47.69 for the half-mile.
Nicholls stalked with Always a Way and drew within range of the leaders at the quarter pole before getting to the front at the sixteenth pole and holding well.
His second win came over a mile and sixteenth when he paired with eight-year-old gelding Mambointheforest to get the better of the three-year-old and upwards by 1-½ lengths.
Nicholls sat Mambointheforest off the lead early on as 79-1 long shot Half Lit, ridden by Jamaican Kirk Johnson, posted the early splits of 24.11 and 48.42.
Six-to-one chance Hullabaloo, under veteran Barbadian Juan Crawford, picked up the running at the seven-sixteenth but quickly faded as Society Joe hit the front.
However, Mambointheforest powered through the stretch to get by the leader with 70 yards to run.
and then 