Ramon Dominguez
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 to win the fifth race July 24, notching his 93rd winner for the meet.
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,” said Dominguez. “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 July 23 by winning the first race aboard Saul J. Kupferberg’s Inter Galactic, and then taking the fourth race with Zayat Stables’ Mine Or Who’s, 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 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 July 11.
Included among his victories were the Shuvee Handicap (gr. II) and the Ogden Phipps (gr. I) aboard Seattle Smooth, the True North Handicap (gr. II) with Fabulous Strike, the Cupecoy’s Joy division of the New York Stallion Series on Mother Russia, the Mike Lee with Legal Consent, the First Flight Handicap (gr. II) with Porte Bonheur, the Prioress (gr. I) with Cat Moves, and the Man o’ War (gr. I) aboard Gio Ponti.
Dominguez, 32, is currently The New York Racing Association’s leading rider, having won the inner track meet and the spring meet at Aqueduct Racetrack 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%. 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.
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