from Taylor Johnston, for Scioto Downs

Columbus, OH — Josh Sutton, 35, drove the 4,000th winner of his career Thursday (May 25) when he steered Smiling Terror to a 1:54.1 victory in the eighth race at Scioto Downs.

Brad Conrad photo

Josh Sutton is all smiles after win number 4,000 at Scioto Downs on Thursday evening.

A native of Henderson, Kentucky, Sutton drove his first winner in 2000 at Colonial Downs behind HJ’s Legend for trainer Brian Loney and in each of the last three seasons has driven more than 500 winners, led by a career best 584 in 2014. He has captured driving titles at nine tracks and has amassed $25.9 million in purse money.

Just last year, Sutton steered Ohio champions Let’s Get It Started, Rose Run Spanky, Scotch McEwan and My Tweed Heart in their respective Sire Stakes finals at Northfield Park.

Another memorable moment for Sutton was his Cinderella victory over Chris Page to capture the 2016 Scioto driving title. Page led the meet with the most driving wins, being seven victories ahead of Sutton going into the final night of the meet. It was a head-to-head battle up until the last race of the season, where the two had tied for the most wins at 171 apiece. Sutton, however, clinched the victory over Page and received the 172 wins to become driving champion.

Saturday features an Over the Hill Gang contest (fifth race) for aged pacers which includes an $18,000 purse and eight highly talented pacers. There will be horses ranging in age from 8-years-old to an 11-year-old in Sam Hill and the contestants have combined for 280 victories and $4,459,673 in purses.

The morning line favorite (5-2, Chris Page) 8-year-old, Mykindachip, who is trained by Ron Burke, makes his first appearance at Scioto Downs this year. He has earned $704,007 and sports a lifetime best of 1:49.3 over this very same oval from 2015.

Another horse to keep an eye on in the field is Sparky Mark, who is trained by Clarence Foulk and owned by Foulk Stables Inc., as he holds the highest earnings in this field ($1,125,766) in addition to the fastest lifetime mark (1:49).

I’m Gorgeous (Virgil Morgan Jr.), who has returned to racing from the breeding shed, comes off a second place finish against Fools Desire in last Saturday’s (May 20) card. He has sired 70 foals, which include the 2015 Ohio Sire Stakes Champion Miss Me Yet.

As a reminder Scioto Downs will be racing on Memorial Day (May 29) with a 2 p.m. post time. The 14-card matinée will have a total of $129,000 in purses.

Due to holiday racing, there will be no live racing on Tuesday (May 30). Live racing will continue on Wednesday (May 31)