by Dean Hoffman

Columbus, OH — Chris Page, driving champ last season at Scioto and leading driver this year, passed the 1,000-win milestone on Thursday night when he won the fourth race with Launch Angle.

Scioto Downs photo

Chris Page is congratulated by Jason Roth, assistant racing secretary at Scioto, and by his grandmother, one of his biggest fans.

Page, 26, a native of nearby Mt. Vernon, Ohio, didn’t hit the board in his first three drives of the evening, but then sent Launch Angle to the front at the start from post one and led all the way to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:56.

Many family members were on hand to help him celebrate.

Page won his first race driving Titanic Fella at the Champaign Co. Fair in Urbana in 2001.

Page currently has 79 driving wins at Scioto in 2010, giving him a five-race edge over Dan Noble.

In other action at Scioto on Thursday, Medoland Jesse, a 3-year-old trotting lass, was an impressive 4-1/4 length winner in 1:59.3 for driver J.D. Wengerd and trainer Mike Medors. The daughter of Jailhouse Jesse was winless in a dozen tries this season, but her thirteenth start proved lucky as she took a nice record for owners Tina Sutermeister and trainer Medors. She trotted to the lead before the half-mile marker and never relinquished the lead.

Touch Tough and Wildfire Victory, also 3-year-olds, followed Medoland Jesse across the wire.