Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: ‘Was This A Grade 1?’

Kendrick Carmouche celebrated when he crossed the wire first aboard the Jack Sisterson-trained True Timber in Saturday's Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, but it wasn't until he was jogging back to the winner's circle that the 36-year-old jockey recognized the full scope of his accomplishment.

“Was this a Grade 1?” Carmouche asked, voice full of emotion. “Oh, this is my first Grade 1!”

Asked to relive that moment during a telephone interview, Carmouche's voice wavered before he found the right words.

“What you see (in that video) is just half of it,” he explained. “There was so much that was built up to get up to this point of my career, so much push and so much fight, and not only a Grade 1, but the Cigar Mile. It's just unbelievable. I didn't even know it was a Grade 1 until I came back, because I don't look at the top of the program. I just look at the horses.”

A favorite of fans and fellow jockeys alike, Carmouche has mastered the art of being tough during the races while still retaining a high level of sportsmanship and humility on the ground.

His emotional win in the Cigar Mile came after more than 20,000 career starts and over 20 years in the saddle, but it wasn't Carmouche's only milestone achievement of the weekend. On Sunday, the veteran jockey wrapped up his first New York riding title. 

“I give thanks to everyone who put a good effort into supporting me and pushed me along to win this meet. I'm very appreciative,” Carmouche said. “I seized the opportunity at hand and I'm grateful for all the trainers and owners for letting me show other people that I can win races. I'm very blessed to say that I've come to New York five years ago and I got a title for the fall meet.”

Carmouche has now won 3,314 races since first acquiring a jockey's license. The son of jockey Sylvester Carmouche had spent years following his father around to different racetracks across Louisiana on the weekends, watching and learning everything he could about the sport he loved. 

Some of his favorite memories come from the small bush tracks, though one mount during a match race when he was 15 years old was enough to convince him to stick to exercise riding on a sanctioned racetrack.

“It was fun to watch it every single Saturday and Sunday of my life, and it was the best weekend any kid could have ever had,” Carmouche remembered. “It was just all friends, people coming together and having a good time. People played cards, ate good food, and just enjoyed each other; it was all good people and good memories. It got me where I'm at today.”

When Carmouche earned his apprentice jockey's license at 16, he spent four months riding in his home state, but his first real break didn't come until a family friend suggested he try Pennsylvania.

“My father told me to never pass up an opportunity,” Carmouche said. “You know, my father never really taught me about riding, he just told me to pay attention and listen. If I did have a question he gave me an answer, but mostly I just followed that.”

Over the next 14 years, Carmouche earned seven riding titles at Parx Racing.

He also rode all around the Northeast during his twenties, and remembers well the grind of long days on the track. There were days he would wake up to work horses at Delaware Park before riding the afternoon card there, then drive down to Charles Town in West Virginia to ride another six or seven races that evening. All that time he'd eat little besides a few ice chips, just enough to keep up his energy.

“This a hard world, but I'm from Louisiana, and working hard is the first thing they teach you in life,” Carmouche explained. “I got two kids, I gotta lead the way.”

Since his move to New York in 2015, Carmouche's accomplishments include receiving the 2017 Mike Venezia Memorial Award, the prestigious honor awarded to jockeys who exemplify extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship.

With these latest two accomplishments under his belt, Carmouche said he's humbled by the faith others have put in him.

“It's just been such a journey,” said Carmouche. “I love the people and the racehorses, and the jockeys. I love everything about it.

“Believe me when I tell you, your dreams can come true. You just gotta believe in your skills. You have to stick to a couple things in life and just drill on it, and just know that if you keep fighting in life you can keep strong and your dreams can come true.”

It was extra special to share the triumphs with his agent, Kevin Bubser. Carmouche brought him into the racing business, but the two have been best friends longer than they've been business partners. 

“I knew what I was getting into,” Carmouche said, laughing good-naturedly. “We get mad at each other, but then we forget about it in the next 30 seconds. That's my boy; he's a good guy. He's getting really good at his craft, and I'm doing my part as a rider. 

“I wish he was here with me; I just want to give him a hug! He's just a big teddy bear. He's 6'5” and he's solid, my brother with another mother.”

The distance from his agent and from the backstretch has been one of the most unique challenges presented by 2020, but it won't be the most difficult memory Carmouche has of this year. 

In June, after watching the video of George Floyd's death at the hands of four police officers, Carmouche found himself unable to sleep for four nights until he shared a video of his emotions on social media.

“It is very sad to see what is going on in the world,” Carmouche said in the video, tears streaming down his cheeks. “I have a white wife and two kids and it's sad to see that it just never ends. It just never ends.”

Racism isn't something he's experienced on the racetrack, Carmouche said, but he can't deny that the rest of the world often sees color before anything else.

“I feel some type of way about things that are still going on in 2020, and I just don't understand some people,” he lamented. “The way I was raised is everybody is one, we don't have different colors. That's the way I've always felt.

“I don't want my kids to keep going through it. Come on guys, let's just make it better for our kids and move on. Peace and love, that's what we need more of out in the world.”

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Kyle Frey, Jonathan Wong, Irvin Racing Take Summer Meet Titles At Golden Gate Fields

Jockey Kyle Frey, trainer Jonathan Wong and owner Irvin Racing Stable sat atop their respective divisions' standings at the recently concluded Golden Gate Fields summer meet.

Twenty-eight-year-old journeyman rider Kyle Frey won the most races out of any jockey with 47 victories from 205 mounts, equating to a strong 23 percent. Represented by agent Fernando “Shoes” Navarro, Frey tallied $803,264 in purse earnings and finished in-the-money with 54 percent of his rides. Apprentice jockey Santos Rivera finished second in the jockey standings with 27 wins while Irving Orozco and Evin Roman tied for third with 25 wins apiece. Frank Alvarado completed the top five with 23 first place finishes.

Trainer Jonathan Wong picked up his ninth training title at Golden Gate Fields when saddling 40 winners from 159 starters at the 6-week summer meet. Wong earned $764,062 in purse money and hit the board with 58 percent of his starters. Isidro Tamayo, the conditioner with the second most wins at the summer meet, visited the winner's circle 21 times. Steve Sherman, who finished third in the trainer standings with 17 wins, had the highest win percentage of any trainer who saddled more than 50 starters, tallying a 27 percent win rate.

Owners Betty and Diane Irvin, who race under the name “Irvin Racing Stable,” won more races than any other owner with 6 victories from their 21 entrants. They campaigned 5 additional second place finishers and 4 horses who hit the wire third, finishing in the money with 71 percent of their starters. Irvin Racing Stables has horses with trainers Greg James and Bill McLean in Northern California and Carla Gaines in Southern California.

Betty and Diane Irvin, a mother-daughter team, are strong supporters of California racing. Betty resides in Los Angeles while Diane has residences in Colorado and Nevada. They own C-Punch Ranch in Lovelock, Nevada, and all of their racehorses are Irvin family homebreds.

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Jockey Juan Gutierrez Becomes All-Time Leading Rider At Emerald Downs

Juan Gutierrez made riding history Wednesday afternoon at Emerald Downs, supplanting Gallyn Mitchell as the track's all-time leading rider.

With a 1¼-length victory on Stay in Grace in the featured $17,000 Muckleshoot Casino Purse, Gutierrez moved one ahead of Mitchell—1,420 to 1,419—to become No. 1 all-time at Emerald Downs. He had tied Mitchell's mark with a victory aboard Mike Operator earlier on the card.

“You know, I was excited the last eighth of a mile when I was pretty sure we would get there,” Gutierrez said in the winner's circle after the victory on Stay in Grace. “This is a great record because it has taken a long time to get there.”

Gutierrez, 51, notched his first Emerald Downs' win April 29, 2000 and has been a mainstay here ever since. He recorded 15 consecutive top-five finishes in the riders' standings during one stretch, including a riding title in 2012 with 117 wins. He also ranks No. 1 in track earnings with over $15 million and No. 3 in stakes victories with 68, including three wins in the Longacres Mile. He ranks second at the current meet with 47 victories through Wednesday.

A 2018 inductee into the Washington Racing Hall of Fame, Gutierrez has 2,031 overall wins, hitting the 2,000 mark aboard Semi Sweet in July.

Gutierrez will be honored with a winner's circle ceremony before Thursday's first race.

Mitchell, the leading rider at Emerald Downs since 2002, retired four years ago and now resides in southern California.

Stay in Grace, a 5-year-old Oregon-bred mare by Understatement, has three wins in her last four starts and improved to 10 for 22 lifetime with earnings of $78,347. Rigoberto Velasquez is the trainer for owners Jerry Carmody and John Sneesby.

In Wednesday's victory, Stay in Grace ($3.20) gained command into the turn and held off B C Z Middleton in the drive, running six furlongs in 1:09.79

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‘His Time Has Come’: Juan Hernadez Riding Hot At Santa Anita Park

With his third triple in the last three racing days on Saturday, hot-riding Juan Hernandez moved within two victories of tying Flavien Prat for the riding lead at Santa Anita's Autumn Meet that concludes on Oct. 25.

While Prat has been fulfilling stakes engagements at Keeneland during this holiday weekend, Hernandez closed the gap. Prat's record reads 16-17-9 from 56 mounts, a 29 percent winning clip, while Hernandez has a 14-3-5 mark from 55 mounts, 25 percent.

The success of the 28-year-old native of Veracruz, Mexico, who was a force in the Bay Area before coming to Southern California under the astute guidance of veteran agent Craig O'Bryan, may have caught some observers by surprise, but not O'Bryan.

“He was the runaway leader at Golden Gate last year winning at 32 percent,” O'Bryan said. “His time has come. He knew he was ready.

“I think you'll see him more and more confident the longer he stays. I'm not surprised at his success here, but I was surprised that I got him; (Northern California-based trainer) Blaine Wright kind of put it all together, so that part was great, but Juan is a good rider, very smooth and a really nice guy, too, a good family man with two kids.”

Humility aside, winning races on a major circuit requires equal amounts of desire and diligence from both jockey and agent. Juan and Craig have those attributes in abundance.

Among the jockeys O'Bryan has represented are three Hall of Fame members: Eddie Delahoussaye, Alex Solis and Gary Stevens.

“Juan is definitely holding up his end of the bargain; he's a very good jockey,” said Craig, whose father George was a top agent and whose 33-year-old son, Brandon, represents apprentice Jessica Pyfer, winner of her first race Friday on only her sixth mount.

Craig has been plying his trade as an agent for 49 years and George, bless his soul, “will be 100 late this month,” Craig said. “Brandon got off to a good start. You never want to go too long without getting your first win.”

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