Veteran east coast rider Kendrick Carmouche led all jockeys for the week in wins with nine riding between Parx Racing and Aqueduct including a win in a stakes race. The panel of racing experts voted Carmouche Jockey of the Week for December 30 through January 5.
The weekly honor recognizes jockeys for significant riding accomplishments and who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.
On Monday, Carmouche travelled to Parx to ride for trainer J. Tyler Servis aboard Fenton Forever in the Wait For It Stakes for Pennsylvania-bred two-year-olds. Breaking from post position one, Fenton Forever made every pole a winning one to post a 3-3/4-length win in 1:28.43 for seven furlongs.
The race was named for the late John Fenton, a familiar figure on the Parx backside for years. It was a particularly special win for Carmouche.
"My old friend, Fenton, I'm sure he was there riding with me just as he was there with (Jorge) Vargas first time out," an emotional Carmouche said to Parx publicist Dick Jerardi. "He was from Jamaica. He was pretty much on this backside his whole life. He was a good friend. He was older than me so he guided me to do the right things whenever I was on the backside and how to conduct myself being a young guy."
Back at his home track of Aqueduct on Wednesday, Carmouche posted a win in the sixth race for Jeremiah Englehart aboard Street Swagg and the seventh race for trainer John Kimmel on Shadyside.
Carmouche continued his winning ways on Thursday in race five for trainer Linda Rice aboard Burn Rubber and in race six for trainer Rob Atras riding Honorary Degree.
On Friday, Carmouche added another win in race five with Legal Deal for trainer Horacio De Paz then two wins on Saturday for trainer Mark Hennig aboard Ouster in the third race and Top of the Table in race four.
Carmouche ended the race week on Sunday at Aqueduct with a win in the first race for trainer Danny Gargan aboard Baron of Sealand.
Carmouche, who will turn 41 on January 18, is a native of Vinton, Louisiana and comes from a riding family including his father and brother. A graded stakes-winning rider, Carmouche won a total of seven riding titles at Parx and was inducted into the Parx Hall of Fame in 2015. He has made New York his base since 2015 and has won riding titles at Aqueduct in the 2020 fall meet and 2023 spring meet.
On Monday, Carmouche was named one of five finalists for the 2025 George Woolf Memorial Award.
Other contenders for Jockey of the Week were Juan J. Hernandez who won the Gr. II San Vicente, Kazushi Kimura who won the Gr. III Las Flores, Julien Leparoux who won a stakes race at Oaklawn and Juan P. Vargas who won the Smarty Jones.
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