Jockey Leandro Goncalves won his 2,000th Thoroughbred race in North America on Saturday night at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, where he guided Gurkha Gold to a 1 1/2-length victory in a maiden special weight route for 3-year-old fillies on the turf. She won the fifth race and paid $20.80. “This means a lot to me to get my 2,000th win in the United States,” Goncalves said in a social media post from Sam Houston Race Park. Goncalves is a native of Brazil, according to a 2011 article in Daily Racing Form that marked his 1,000th victory. It came at Tampa Bay Downs. “I just want to thank everyone for all the winners and all the support,” Goncalves continued in the post from Sam Houston. “And my really true friends, my wife, when you have the bad times they are there to support you and help you pick yourself up and just wake up the next morning and just go do it over again.” Goncalves has had 12,839 Thoroughbred mounts, and they have earned a collective $44.1 million, according to records from Daily Racing Form. His first win in the United States came on April 5, 2007 at Turfway Park. Goncalves has won 75 stakes, and his top horses include Nikki’s Sandcastle, who won the Grade 2 Fayette in 2013 at Keeneland, and Bourbon Courage, who won the Grade 2 Super Derby in 2012 at Louisiana Downs. Goncalves was aboard Gurkha Gold for Russell Welch and trainer Karl Broberg.