The Aqueduct Racetrack spring meet, which ran from April 3-27, saw jockey Kendrick Carmouche pick up his fourth riding title at a New York Racing Association meeting. Carmouche paced all other riders to secure his second Big A spring meet riding title with 21 wins, putting an exclamation point on a meet that saw him notch his 4,000th riding victory aboard Crimson Light April 5.
Carmouche entered the day one win ahead of Dylan Davis, and the two were tied at 20 wins each after Davis took the day's opening race. Carmouche reclaimed his lead in style late in the day with a neck victory aboard Laurelin in the listed Memories of Silver, clinching him the riding title.
Carmouche, a 41-year-old native of Vinton, La., claimed his second Aqueduct spring meet title after clinching the 2022 meeting with 19 wins. His other riding titles at NYRA include the 2020 Aqueduct fall meet (23 wins) and the 2022 Aqueduct fall meet (34 wins).
"It's a pleasure. You work hard to be in these positions and when you love your sport and you love riding racehorses every day of your life, this is what comes out of it," said Carmouche, who is represented by agent Jimmy Riccio, Jr.
Among Carmouche's meet highlights were an additional stakes triumph with Phileas Fogg in the listed Excelsior, and a strong third-level optional claiming coup with the Linda Rice-trained Surveillance. He completed the meet with a 21-9-17 record from 73 starts and earnings of $1,144,463, good for a win rate of 28.77% and an in-the-money rate of 64.38%.
"I'd like to thank my agent, Jimmy. We've been working hard," Carmouche said. "We've been riding less horses and trying to win more races, and I think we've been doing that for the last two-and-a-half years. I think that's the road we're going to take going forward and keep pushing. I'm always hungry and I always want to win."
Dylan Davis finished second with a record of 20-15-14 from 75 starts while Manny Franco secured third with a record of 19-12-19 from 85 starts.
Linda Rice, 61, enjoyed a repeat training victory at this meet with a record of 15-11-9 from 68 starts and $719,502 in total earnings, giving her a win rate of 22.06% and in-the-money percentage of 51.47.
"It's a very competitive meet," Rice said. "A lot of people are back from Florida and there's a lot of turf racing and I'm a little light on turf horses, but it's been a good month of April for us.
"Years ago, I decided to consolidate to New York and not have a division in Miami and other locations," Rice added. "I felt, financially, it made a lot of sense to consolidate and that's gone well for us."
The win came on the heels of a prosperous Aqueduct winter meet, where she also captured both the trainer and owners' titles with 51 and 22 wins, respectively. Rice now holds six Aqueduct spring meet titles, adding to wins in 2011-12, 2017, and 2023-24.
Rice's meet was headlined by optional claiming wins with horses she owns, including the aforementioned Surveillance, whom she claimed for $62,500 in November, and Malu, a $16,000 claim in July that she owns outright. She added a pair of allowance-level wins April 23 with What's Up Bro and Light the Way.
"It's been spread across the board," Rice said of her success at a range of levels. "I train for various different clients and some great breeders here in New York, both Barry Schwartz and Chester Broman. I'm fortunate enough to have some nice young horses for Jane Lyon (Summer Wind), Robert Evans, and Jon Clay (Alpha Delta Stables). On top of it, we've made some nice claims. We usually try to shop in the $50,000 range and find some gems that maybe were given up on at another operation."
Chad Brown finished second with a record of 10-5-8 from 29 starts while Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher finished third with a 8-2-0 record from 14 starts.
On the owners' side, Rice posted a record of 6-3-1 from 24 starts with earnings of $209,652.
John J. Witte finished second with five wins while Michael Dubb, Klaravich Stables, and Repole Stable tied for third with four wins each.
Live racing resumes Thursday on Opening Day of the Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet with an eight-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. ET.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
