(Albin Jimenez in the Keeneland’s Stakes winner’s circle aboard Knicks Go / Photo by Holly M. Smith)

As soon as the gates popped, and there was an opening at the current Turfway Park Winter/Spring meet, Albin Jimenez zoomed right to the front. A place that he feels very comfortable riding. A place that he normally does not relinquish, either.

And, so far this meet, Jimenez is handling both his game and his name very adeptly.

Jimenez has booted home 24 of his mounts to victory and to sidebar trips to the Turfway Park’s sparse, but celebratory winner’s circle.

Jimenez has also pushed his name to the top spot in the Jockey Standings at the Northern Kentucky racetrack, and, for all intents and purposes, it looks like it will stay right there until he has wrapped up another title this March.

After Saturday night’s races were all said and done, Jimenez had totaled 112 rides so far this meet. He has amassed a record of 24 wins, 12 seconds and 9 thirds. His horses have won .21% of the time, and have finished either first, second or third at a .40% clip.

All of those numbers add up to an impressive lead going into the meet’s final month of racing.

Far back in second, with 16 wins, is apprentice Joseph D. Ramos, who has a 16-7-16 mark in just 88 rides this meet. A win farther back is Gerardo Corrales, who has a 15-15-7 mark in 61 rides.

No other rider has managed 10 wins so far this meet.

Jimenez may not be in total domination mode.

But he is darn close.

Here’s a look at the Top 25 riders at Turfway Park this meet:

1 Albin Jimenez 112 24 12 9 $386,640 21% 45 40%
2 Joseph D. Ramos 88 16 7 16 $277,852 18% 39 44%
3 Gerardo Corrales 61 15 15 7 $254,213 25% 37 61%
4 Sonny Leon 101 9 13 12 $214,894 9% 34 34%
5 Rodney A. Prescott 86 8 11 14 $182,181 9% 33 38%
6 Malcolm Franklin 46 5 8 4 $166,113 11% 17 37%
7 John McKee 96 7 10 18 $154,917 7% 35 36%
8 Alan Garcia 58 8 5 4 $135,902 14% 17 29%
9 Alex Achard 42 3 4 5 $107,708 7% 12 29%
10 Javier Padron-Barcenas 52 4 2 7 $100,680 8% 13 25%
11 Leandro D. Goncalves 69 6 5 2 $90,291 9% 13 19%
12 Rogelio Miranda 68 5 5 9 $87,486 7% 19 28%
13 Abel Lezcano 35 5 6 1 $87,144 14% 12 34%
14 Luan Machado 58 3 4 7 $80,429 5% 14 24%
15 Rafael Manuel Hernandez 35 4 4 2 $63,888 11% 10 29%
16 Angel Serpa 56 5 1 5 $57,650 9% 11 20%
17 Gabriel Lagunes 29 4 2 3 $48,895 14% 9 31%
18 Azael De Leon 36 3 7 2 $47,035 8% 12 33%
19 Julie Burke 29 2 4 1 $43,270 7% 7 24%
20 Edgar Perez 19 4 1 1 $35,140 21% 6 32%
21 Jose Riquelme 54 2 6 2 $34,886 4% 10 19%
22 Samuel E. Bermudez 18 3 3 1 $31,656 17% 7 39%
23 Eddie Zuniga 16 3 0 3 $29,403 19% 6 38%
24 Julio A. Garcia 2 1 0 0 $28,237 50% 1 50%
25 Virginia Tormey 40 1 2 4 $20,688 3% 7 18%

(Stats compiled by Equibase)