by Paulick Report Staff | 03.19.2013 | 12:56pm
Veteran rider Tony Black reached a long-awaited goal Monday when he guided Smart Tori to a three-quarter length victory in the ninth and final race at Parx Racing.
That win was career victory 5,200 for Black, who announced his retirement shortly afterward. Black, 61, won his first race in 1970, shortly after he finished high school. In an interview published last month in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Black indicated that he planned on retiring after reaching this milestone.
“The reality really hasn’t sunk in,” he told the newspaper. “But I said I would and I am sticking with it. The best part is I did it on my son’s horse.”