Jockey Ramon Dominguez set a modern-day record for victories at Belmont
Park’s spring/summer meet when he guided Michael Dubb and Robert Joscelyn’s I’ve
Got Speed (Suave Prospect) to win Friday’s 5TH race, notching his 93rd winner
for the meet.
Dominguez added to his tally in the 9TH and final race with pick-up mount
Patron Saint (Western Expression), who garnered win number 94 for the rider.
Hall of Famer Angel Cordero Jr. held the mark for most victories since
records were first kept, bringing home 92 winners during the 1982 Belmont Park
spring/summer meet. Fellow Hall of Famers Jose Santos and Mike Smith each had 86
winners for the 1986 and 1991 spring/summer meets, respectively.
“It’s very, very exciting,” Dominguez said. “It didn’t even cross my mind
coming into the meet, and it’s just a reflection of the type of opportunities
that have been given to me. This is just a result of that support.”
Dominguez had moved into a tie with Cordero on Thursday by winning the 1ST
race aboard Saul J. Kupferberg’s Inter Galactic (Incurable Optimist) and then
taking the 4TH race with Zayat Stables’ Mine Or Who’s (Mayakovsky), his 92nd
winner.
Dominguez, who moved his tack to New York from the Mid-Atlantic circuit
earlier this year, had 21 winners through the first 19 days of racing beginning
April 29, then moved into the lead for good on May 25, when he had two winners
to break out of a deadlock with Rajiv Maragh. For 32 of the next 33 days, he
rode at least one winner, including four winners on July 11.
Included among his victories were the Shuvee H. (G2) and Ogden Phipps (G1)
aboard Seattle Smooth (Quiet American), the True North H. (G2) with Fabulous
Strike (Smart Strike), the Cupecoy’s Joy division of the New York Stallion S. on
Mother Russia (Mayakovsky), the Mike Lee S. with Legal Consent (Officer), the
First Flight H. (G2) with Porte Bonheur (Hennessy), the Prioress S. (G1) with
Cat Moves (Tale of the Cat) and the Man o’ War S. (G1) aboard Gio Ponti (Tale of
the Cat).
Dominguez, 32, is currently the New York Racing Association’s leading rider,
having won the inner track meet and the spring meet at Aqueduct earlier this
year as well. Dominguez has 233 winners from 848 mounts in New York, with more
than $8 million in purses and a win percentage of 27.7 percent. Nationally, he
ranks second in wins, behind Russell Baze.
A native of Venezuela, Dominguez came to the United States in 1995 and rode
his first winner in March of 1996. Beginning in 2007, he divided his time
between New York and Delaware Park, where he won five riding titles in 11 years,
before moving to New York for good this spring with his wife, Sharon, and two
children, Alexander and Matthew.