Thornton rides 1,000th winner Robert Thornton rode his 1,000th career winner, and his 50th of the season, when steering Araldur home in the Free Bets At gg.com Novices' Hurdle at Towcester. The 32-year-old joins an elite club of jockeys, including Tony McCoy, Richard Johnson, Richard Dunwoody and Peter Scudamore, to achieve the four-figure landmark. Thornton reached the milestone on Araldur, for his main retainer Alan King, who coincidentally saddled his 900th winner at Bangor on Saturday. Making all the running, on the 30-100 shot Thornton enjoyed an armchair ride, winning by 15 lengths. Break The Chain tried to keep tabs with Araldur but he was shrugged off early in the straight and lost second place to Lombardy Boy by a head. Thornton made a miraculous return in December from a serious knee ligament injury he sustained in an horrific fall from Hell's Bay at Newton Abbot in July. A delighted Thornton said: "I'm very pleased. It's a milestone I've been looking to over the last four or five years. "I know AP (McCoy) and Richard Johnson have smashed the records in previous seasons but I'm delighted to get there," he told At The Races.
