SELECT RIGHT(LEFT(a.JobOrders, 16), 3) as OrderSuffix, COUNT(1) as TotalCount
FROM Orders a, Status b
WHERE a.JobOrders = b.JobOrders
    AND b.Status = 'Finished'
GROUP BY RIGHT(LEFT(a.JobOrders, 16), 3)
ORDER BY TotalCount Desc
Is there a way  to include in that SELECT query the TOP (1) Date and TIME fields of table Status where RIGHT(LEFT(a.JobOrders, 16), 3) = <3 letter value>?
What I am currently doing is I get first the distinct values, OrderSuffix. Put it on a datatable. For each row, I am sending an SQL where RIGHT(LEFT(a.JobOrders, 16), 3) = <3 letter value> to get the TOP (1) Date and Time.
 
    