RIGHT SPOT : Van Berg Is Present for 5,000th Career Win

Jack Van Berg must have known something.

Wednesday, needing only one win to become the first trainer to reach the 5,000 mark, Van Berg and his far-flung stable had horses starting at Louisiana Downs, Ak-Sar-Ben in Nebraska and Arlington Park in suburban Chicago.

One of three horses he entered at Ak-Sar-Ben went off at 3-5 odds. Van Berg’s only starter at Louisiana Downs was also a heavy favorite.

But the 51-year-old trainer was at Arlington, where Art’s Chandelle, a 4-year-old gelding, led all the way under jockey Pat Day to give Van Berg No. 5,000.

The Van Berg favorite at Ak-Sar-Ben finished third and his starter at Louisiana Downs ran second.

Trainers’ records are sketchy, but the only man who may be close to Van Berg in winners might be Marion Van Berg, Jack’s father, who had more than 4,800 to his credit when he died in 1971.

It was fitting that Art’s Chandelle, running in a $10,000 claiming race, would be No. 5,000 for Van Berg, who saddled his first winner when he was 16. Although Van Berg has won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness this year with Alysheba, and even though he’s had more than 125 stakes winners, he still is known as a claiming trainer, a man who grinds out victories by running cheaper horses all over the country. In 1976, Van Berg saddled 496 winners, a record that still stands.

Van Berg followed his father into the racing Hall of Fame, getting elected in 1985. Unlike his father, Van Berg trains a public stable and works for more than 80 owners. Van Berg said Wednesday that of the thousands of horses his father trained, Marion owned all but one, and Jack couldn’t remember the name of that horse.

Jack Van Berg must be a horseman who has everything. In honor of his 5,000th win, Arlington Park gave him a new saddle.