Anderson reaches 2,000

Prince Vince got the worse of the trip, but he still got the best of his seven rivals in Friday night's $12,300 feature race at Maywood Park, pulling away with driver Ryan Anderson to a 1:51.4 mile. Seven races later Anderson gave himself an early birthday present when he brought home his 2,000th career dash winner with Mink's Success, the betting favorite in the 13th and final event on the card.

"Earlier in the year I set myself a goal of getting my 2,000th win by my birthday and it turns out on got it almost a week early," said Anderson, who turns 27 next Thursday, June 21.

“Most of my success is because of my dad (Joe Anderson). He’s been a great role model for me and he's been a great teacher as well. Everything that he has taught me is starting to show up this year.”

Overlooked at 8-1 odds in the Friday feature, Prince Vince ($18.8) was settled into fifth by Anderson when Jo Pa's Bench Mark, Constant Change and Third Day all got into a hard, early duel through the first turn that saw Third Day get to the front at a very quick :26.1 first quarter. Brent Holland had Third Day on top at the :54.2 half with Constant Change sitting in the pocket when Anderson took Prince Vince out. The Joe Anderson trainee was on the outside grinding it out at the 1:23 third quarter pole before he cleared the even-money favorite Third Day. The 5-2 second choice Wesley Snip was right behind Prince Vince but was no match for the 6-year-old state bred .

"That was absolutely a terrific effort by my horse," said Ryan Anderson. "Prince Vince raced first up to tough horse and still drew away in the lane. I had no choice but to race him first over. I knew we were bringing up (Mike) Oosting's horse (Wesley Snip) but my horse just came up with a huge mile tonight. He's been racing against quality horses all season long and while mostly races at Balmoral, he gets over this track excellently."

Third Day was second best, beaten one length, three parts of a length ahead of Wesley Snip.

The $6,888 winner's share put Prince Vince's lifetime earnings less than $3,000 shy of $400,000. The Sportmaster offspring has banked $56,427 for owners Anderson Racing Inc ( Crete , IL ) and Summersby Stables (De Mar, CA).

The personable Anderson comes off his best season in 2006 when he posted 466 dash winners and had over $3.6 million in money won. This year he's well on his way to surpassing those marks. Through June 15 the California native has 273 winners and over $1.6 million in purse earnings with most of the stakes for young horses still on the horizon.

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