The victory was the first black-type stakes win of Cardenas' career, with the New York-bred Runaway Rumour facing open company for the first time and improving to 3-for-3 overall after besting the Chad Brown-trained favorite Minaun by a half-length.

Cardenas previously captured the $70,000 Peeping Tom Stakes with Gustavo Rodriguez and Andrew Gurdon's Ryan's Cat for trainer Rudy Rodriguez in March, a starter stakes on the New York Claiming Championship Day program at Aqueduct Racetrack.

After making the first three starts of his professional career in 2019, Cardenas became a regular in 2020, notching 41 wins to lead all apprentice riders on the highly competitive NYRA circuit.

Now a journeyman, Cardenas has been trying to assert himself in one of the world's major horseracing circuits. The native of Lima, Peru has amassed a 33-38-62 record in 440 mounts this year, compiling earnings of more than $2 million entering Sunday. With more than 1,000 career starts on his ledger, Cardenas earned a trip to the winner's circle in a six-figure stakes contest, marking the next step in a career that started when Cardenas worked as a groom and hotwalker at Monmouth Park.

“I couldn't believe it, to be honest,” Cardenas said with a smile. “I got in the car afterwards and I was so excited, but I was trying to keep my emotions together. But as soon as I drove back home, I was thinking about my family. I get strength from them. If you have a lot of faith, nothing can go wrong.

“Running down the stretch, I could hear everyone cheering and it got me pumped up. I'm pretty sure the horses sensed it too; they could feel the energy,” he added.

The 24-year-old Cardenas said he wanted to be a jockey from the time he was 6, and his career prospects improved when he moved to the United States at age 12. As he got older, Cardenas willingly traveled the country to make that dream a possibility. Besides his experience in New Jersey, Cardenas also went to South Carolina to work at the Webb Carroll Training Center before eventually returning to the metropolitan area, working in New York as an exercise rider for trainers Leah Gyarmati, Bruce Levine, and Randi Persaud among others.

“It's been a lot of work but I give thanks to everybody; my agent, P.J. Campo, the trainers, the jock's room, they all help me out. Everyone tries to help you out here,” Cardenas said. “Watching the replays has been really important. With Runaway Rumour, I watched the replays and she was fantastic, so I tried to imitate the way the jockeys rode her before, and it worked out very well.”

Cardenas' style has led to success, though this year has provided an additional challenge as he no longer has the five-pound bug. But the extra weight hasn't deterred Cardenas, who said he's just trying to use his preparation to continue the success he's enjoyed as an apprentice rider.

“The weight difference is a factor; I don't think five pounds is a lot, but it makes a difference,” Cardenas said. “Now that you're a journeyman, you have to prove you belong in here. There's a lot of ups and downs in this business, but my family keeps me together. I love this sport. It's my life. It's always what I wanted to do and I just want to keep moving forward.”

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Runaway Rumour, bred in New York, saw jockey Luis Cardenas pick up the mount from Jose Lezcano, and the duo broke from the outermost post and tracked in seventh position as Bye Bye led the eight-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in :22.79, the half in :47.28, and three-quarters in 1:11.69 on the firm turf.

Out of the final turn, Runaway Rumour was in sixth position with plenty of daylight in front of her. The Flintshire filly utilized a strong turn-of-foot to pick off rivals and sustain that momentum to the wire, completing the course in 1:34.25 with 6-5 favorite Minaun in second.

The Jorge Abreu trainee was unraced as a juvenile but broke her maiden going six furlongs on May 9 on the Belmont turf. She won again when stretched out to the Wild Applause distance in her previous start on June 5 and improved to 3-for-3 after capturing her stakes debut, increasing her career earnings to $140,250.

“I was a little concerned about the jockey change because I had never rode Luis in that type of race before, but he gave me so much confidence when I was giving him instructions,” Abreu said. “He told me he was looking at the replays and I knew it going to be OK. I told him, whatever you do, do not go on the inside.

“He broke sharp and tucked her in behind horses and he kept her in the clear,” Abreu added. “She likes to run free on the outside. When I saw at the five-sixteenths pole that she was picking up momentum, I had a pretty good feeling about her.”

Off at 13-1, Runaway Rumour returned $29 on a $2 win wager. Abreu said she will now target the one-mile $150,000 Grade 3 Lake George Stakes on July 23 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, Ny.

“Depending on how she comes out of the race, we'll look at the Lake George at Saratoga,” Abreu said. “I'd say a mile to a mile and a sixteenth is good for her. I don't want to stretch her out to a mile and an eighth or a mile and quarter. Time will tell.”

Cardenas said the pre-race instructions played out as the connections hoped.

“[Abreu] worked out the plan with me and we both agreed to just let her run her race,” Cardenas said. “She likes to be able to run horses down and that's what she did. She loves doing that and I love her, too.

“We popped out of the gate and let the speed go,” Cardenas continued. “We had a beautiful trip behind horses and when we started to move by the five-sixteenths pole, she responded really well.”

The Irish-bred Minaun, a Group 3 winner in her native country, won her North American debut on April 30 for trainer Chad Brown at Belmont and earned black type in her first stakes appearance in the country, besting stablemate Nevisian Sunrise by a half length for second.

“I gave her a turf trip,” said Minaun jockey Manny Franco. “I was inside and trying to work my way out to the clear at some point, but the winner got the jump. When the winner was coming, I was still trying to find my way out.”

Brown, who also saddled the favorite to a second-place finish in the previous race with Always Carina in the Grade 2 Mother Goose, said Minaun did not have the best trip and Nevisian Sunrise was rank at times.

“She [Minaun] had some traffic trouble,” Brown said. “My other horse ran well but she was in a fight with the jockey [Irad Ortiz, Jr.] for most of the race. It's tough for a horse to re-break again after being in a tussle for most of the race. For both horses, it just didn't work out the way I had hoped.”

Sussex Garden, Alda, Bubbles On Ice, Bye Bye, and Lovestruck completed the order of finish. Alwayz Late scratched.

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Last year was full of milestones for the now 23-year-old Cardenas, who notched his first win with a come-from-behind effort aboard Solitary Gem in the eighth race at Aqueduct Racetrack on Jan. 10. In total, 2020 saw Cardenas post a 41-51-50 ledger in 582 mounts at NYRA tracks for earnings of more than $2.2 million while competing in a jockey colony that boasts Eclipse Award champions, Hall of Famers, and American Classic winners.

“I had a nice start at the beginning of the year and so many people on the backstretch who I worked for were real supportive,” Cardenas said. “I recently watched my first ever race on replay and I think to now and I see the improvement. That's the key. You just have to take care of your own business. It's one of the best colonies in the world and I always wanted to compete with the best, and it's taught me a lot.”

Cardenas moved to the United States when he was 12, settling in New Jersey. His father worked with harness horses, though Cardenas said being a jockey remained his goal as he got older. His first foray into the career came when he worked as a groom and hotwalker at Monmouth Park.

He then trekked to South Carolina to work at the Webb Carroll Training Center, providing a background knowledge that proved invaluable when he came to New York in 2017 to work as an exercise rider for trainers such as Leah Gyarmati, Bruce Levine and Randi Persaud.

“I always had the thought growing up in Peru from the time I was 6 years old that I wanted to ride,” Cardenas said. “My dad was an exercise rider there and my grandfather was a jockey. They used to take me to the racetrack. I was 12 when I told my dad I wanted to be a jockey. I didn't care too much about anything else, I wanted to pursue that dream.

“When I moved to the United States when I was turning 13, my dad worked with harness horses instead of thoroughbreds, so it was a little difficult because I didn't have any connections at the racetrack,” he added. “But at Monmouth, I started hotwalking and grooming horses, and it helped a lot. I learned how to take care of horses and when I decided I wanted to ride, I went to South Carolina and I learned how to break babies and it helped my career a lot.”

His hard work in the mornings paid off with a career highlight last summer, as Cardenas won the opening race at the prestigious summer meet at historic Saratoga Race Course aboard Grit and Glory on July 16. Cardenas won two additional races at the Spa, which attracts some of the world's best jockeys, with wins aboard Vinda Machine and Big Package.

“The first day at Saratoga, I opened the meet with a win for [trainer] Linda Rice, who gave me a great opportunity. It was amazing,” Cardenas said. “I felt like I was a superstar. It was a great experience to ride there and I just feel very fortunate.”

Cardenas, who still maintains his five-pound bug, also overcame injury setbacks. In February, a hand injury suffered during training at Belmont Park cost him a couple of weeks, and a mild concussion prevented him from racing during part of the Saratoga meet after his hot start.

But Cardenas shrugged off those issues and had a strong Belmont fall meet. Working with agent P.J. Campo, Cardenas made the most of his mounts, posting eight wins at the Elmont-based track, before closing his 2020 with 14 wins from the start of the Aqueduct fall meet to New Year's Eve.

“Hopefully we just keep taking the right steps forward and getting the trust of the trainers and go forward,” Cardenas said.

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Klaravich Stables was the runaway winner as top owner, racking up 48 wins, 14 more than the next-closest competitor, Repole Stable, to finish as the leading owner for the second straight year at NYRA tracks, which encompasses Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course and Aqueduct Racetrack.

Ortiz posted a record of 142-139-95 in 707 mounts to win his first year-end title since 2016. His 2020 saw him win his 2,000th career race while posting $9.62 million in earnings with a 20.08 winning percentage on the NYRA circuit.

“I'm pretty happy about it and I'm very proud of the work we put into it,” said Ortiz, who earned Eclipse Award honors as the nation's Outstanding Jockey in 2017. “This is why you work this hard. It was a tough year. We couldn't work horses in the morning like we normally could, but we made it through and I'm just happy we're all healthy coming out of this.”

The 27-year-old enjoyed a year of both quality and quantity, including a stellar Belmont fall campaign that saw him pace all riders with 40 wins. During that meet, Ortiz won three graded stakes in a single weekend, starting with the Grade 2, $150,000 Kelso Handicap with Complexity [trained by Brown] and piloting Plum Ali to victory in the Grade 2, $150,000 Miss Grillo and Wet Your Whistle in the Grade 3, $150,000 Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational on October 4.

Cross Border highlighted Ortiz's successful Saratoga meet, winning the Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green, while Mystic Guide took the Grade 2, $150,000 Jim Dandy. Ortiz continued his success at the Big A fall meet posting graded wins with Share the Ride in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap and Sharp Starr in the Grade 3 Go for Wand Handicap.

“It's extra special to have a great year in New York because it's so competitive,” Ortiz said. “I think it's the best riding colony in the country and to have success here, it's great. I just have to keep competing with these guys. We had a pretty consistent year and we'll just try to carry the momentum into 2021 and work towards my goal of contending for the Eclipse Award every year.”

Jose Lezcano was second with 137 wins while Manny Franco won 129 races.

Luis Cardenas was the leading apprentice on the NYRA circuit with 41 wins in 2020. Romero Ramsay Maragh, who became a journeyman in July, finished second with 18 wins as an apprentice, while Charlie Marquez landed third with eight wins.

Brown compiled a 91-81-83 record with 411 starters to become the first NYRA trainer to record six straight training titles since Gasper Moschera from 1993-98. He won two individual meets, leading the Belmont spring/summer with 23 wins and the Belmont fall with 22 victories. He ended 2020 ahead of Todd Pletcher, whose 81 wins were the second-most among conditioners.

The four-time reigning Eclipse Award Champion trainer racked up earnings of more than $7.4 million while winning more than 22 percent of the time. Brown's starters finished on the board at a 62.04 percent clip.

The 42-year-old Brown has paced NYRA trainers on every NYRA year-end standings list since 2015. Among his highlights was winning a pair of $500,000 races during the Saratoga summer meet, including with Rushing Fall in the Grade 1 Diana and Domestic Spending in the Saratoga Derby Invitational. That success built on another fruitful Belmont spring/summer edition, with Instilled Regard taking the Grade 1 Manhattan and Newspaperofrecord winning the Grade 1 Longines Just a Game.

“He's a great trainer and has very good support as well,” Ortiz said. “He's very smart and places the horses where they are supposed to go. He always gives them the time they need and he's just one of the best. This year was challenging for everybody but I think next year, he'll have a big year again.”

Headed by Seth Klarman, Klaravich Stables won at least a share of four of the five individual NYRA individual meets in 2020. Klaravich won the Belmont fall and spring/summer outright, as well as Saratoga, while tying Repole Stable for the recently concluded Aqueduct fall meet.

Klaravich teamed with the year's leading trainer and jockey with Complexity to win the Kelso. The stable also partnered with Brown to capture the Saratoga Derby Invitational with Domestic Spending, the Longines Just a Game and Grade 3 Intercontinental with the recently retired Newspaperofrecord and the Grade 3 Lake George with Selflessly.

In total, Klaravich sent out 171 starters, going 48-30-39, winning at a 28.07 percent clip, while racking up earnings of $3.23 million in the process. Repole Stable's stellar 34 wins was second-most on the circuit.

Live racing resumes New Year's Day Friday at the Big A with a nine-race card highlighted by the $150,000 Jerome, a one-mile contest for newly minted 3-year-olds offering 10-4-2-1 qualifying points to the top-four finishers towards the Kentucky Derby. First post is 12:20 p.m. Eastern.

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Of course. Exactly 17 minutes.

Even on the most unusual of opening days at Saratoga Race Course, tradition was served. It is Saratoga after all. Phil Linguiti did the honors, yanking the strap that moved the clapper to produce the sound. Linguiti, a former jockey and longtime white cap in the clubhouse, is a familiar figure at Saratoga. Since this 152nd season is racing in Saratoga Springs is being conducted without spectators due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Linguiti wasn’t needed in the empty box seats and became the masked bell man for the day.

The bell is a relic to a bygone era at a track that knows bygone well. Legend has it that the bell was used as a signal to trainers to bring their horses from the barns on the backstretch to be saddled under the trees behind the clubhouse. Trainers no longer have to rely on the bell for guidance, but the bell remains. Though the winner’s circle is no longer just simply a circle of chalk on the dirt racing surface near the finish line and huge video screens in the infield provide the tote information, fortunately some things don’t change at Saratoga.

Linguiti and the bell were a link to the past on a day that a link was welcome. Under overcast skies with a consistent light breeze there was very little connection to even the most low-key racing day at Saratoga in the past 40 or 50 years, certainly not the always-festive opener of the season. With only a small collection of horsemen and essential staff permitted on the grounds, it was eerily quiet aside from the in-house feed of public address announcer John Imbriale. Aside from the time that the horses were on the track, it was easy to forget that the season was officially in session.

While we are accustomed to seeing thousands of empty seats at Aqueduct and Belmont Park and at other major tracks, the sight of a completely empty Saratoga was, at the very least, odd. It’s not accurate to call it shocking because we have known for weeks that it had to be spectator-free to be open at all, but it was different. Still, historic Saratoga is open, giving owners and horsemen the opportunity to stay in business and compete. Even though there were no fans in the seats at the track and no action at the windows, the New York Racing Association has a wildly popular simulcast brand that will produce millions of dollars in betting handle during the 40-day meet. It did $19.1 million Thursday.

After Drawing Away Stable’s Grit and Glory (Malibu Moon) won the first race, veteran Linda Rice, still the only woman to capture a Saratoga training title, provided some perspective: “It’s very strange, but winning is still the same. Whether it’s Belmont or Saratoga, it’s exciting to win a race. The horsemen, like myself and my peers, are so happy to be back racing. We just need to support the industry. But we really miss the fans. It’s just not the same without them, and I sure hope when we come here next year that they are here with us.”

Grit and Glory was ridden by 23-year-old apprentice jockey Luis Cardenas, who for a while had a perfect record at Saratoga Race Course. Winning his Spa debut was akin to hitting a home run in his first at bat in the majors and the smiling Cardenas relished the moment: “This is a dream come true,” he said. “It another check off on the bucket list.”

Cardenas is a native of Peru and has lived in the U.S. for a about a decade. He worked as an exercise rider for a number of years and launched his career as a jockey in December. He said he was injured last summer and spent his recovery time watching races from Saratoga.

“It’s exciting. It’s my first year here and to win the first race at Saratoga it means a lot to me,” he said. “This is my first time at Saratoga. Even driving here, my heart was pumping really fast.”

Ohio-based trainer Tim Hamm picked up his first Saratoga stakes victory in the GIII Schuylerville S. when Dayoutoftheoffice (Into Mischief) cruised to a six-length victory and paid $41.60.

“It’s great. Couldn’t be better,” Hamm said. “I wish there were 100,000 people here to enjoy it with, but it’s awesome.”

Hamm said the absence of fans in the stands did not diminish the victory for him.

“We’re so grateful as horsemen, and I’m sure everyone in the industry is, just to be here and able to race,” he said. “It doesn’t take anything out of it for me. There would probably be a bigger party downtown tonight if it was full of people, but other than that it’s great.”

Jockey Junior Alvarado picked up the mount on Dayoutoftheoffice and made the most of the opportunity. He said the empty stands made him appreciate Saratoga even more.

“When you come to Saratoga there are two things you are looking for,” Alvarado said. “One of the main things is to get horses like this, 2-year-olds, nice horses to keep going and win the big races. The second thing is the fans. There is nothing like the fans here in Saratoga. Even when you don’t win a race, you come back and people congratulate you still. They give you high fives. They keep your spirit up. That one of the things we are missing and hopefully we won’t take it for granted anymore.”

Three-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown is a native of Mechanicville, about 17 miles south of Saratoga, and spent many days in his youth with his family at the track. In 2008, he hit one out of the park, winning with the very first horse he saddled at his home track. Now one of the premier horsemen in the world, he has secured three of the last four Spa training titles. After Country Grammer (Tonalist) gave him a victory in the GIII Peter Pan S., Brown talked about this summer at Saratoga.

“It’s really nice to win this race but definitely a bittersweet day when this beautiful place is empty where I grew up,” he said. “We’ll try to get through the meet and hold out hope that maybe it will open more during the meet, but there’s no guarantees about that. We’ll do the best we can and we’re grateful they’re running here. Hopefully, this is the only year we have to do this.”

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