Belmont Park: Dominguez wins six races, three stakes on card

Adam Coglianese/NYRA

Ramon Dominguez rides Hessonite to a 3 3/4-length victory in the $100,000 Cupecoy’s Joy Division of the New York Stallion Stakes on Sunday at Belmont Park. It was one of six wins on the card for Dominguez.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Ramon Dominguez won six races on Sunday’s card at Belmont Park, tying a New York Racing Association record for most wins on a single card. It was the first time it has happened in nearly 10 years.

Dominguez, who won three of the four stakes on the 10-race program, went 6 for 8 on the card, with a head loss in the $60,000 Easy Goer Stakes aboard Rail Trip and a third-place finish aboard Brampton in a starter allowance.

Dominguez capped his six-win day by guiding Hessonite to a 3 3/4-length victory in the $100,000 Cupecoy’s Joy Division of the New York Stallion Stakes on Sunday at Belmont Park.

Dominguez, 34, became just the second rider to win six races on a single Belmont Park card. Jorge Velasquez went 6 for 6 on July 9, 1981. John Velazquez is the only rider to have won six races on a Saratoga card, going 6 for 10 on Sept. 3, 2001.

“It feels great to have your name next to somebody like that,” Dominguez said, referring to joining Velasquez as the only other rider to win six one card in the 106-year history of Belmont. “It’s an accomplishment I don’t take a whole lot of credit for. I was riding a lot of good horses. Still, things have to fall into place, and you have to get very lucky. I’m happy that it happened.”

Though he dominated the Maryland and Delaware circuit for years, Dominguez said the only other time he rode six winners on a single card was at the Meadowlands, a track that no longer conducts Thoroughbred racing.

The feat of winning six races on a NYRA card has been accomplished 16 times. Others to do it at either Aqueduct or Jamaica include Steve Cauthen (three times), Mike Smith (twice), Ron Turcotte, Rudy Turcotte, Bill Shoemaker, Mike Venezia, Angel Cordero Jr., Alfred Robertson, Jorge Chavez, and Shaun Bridgmohan.

Dominguez won the opener aboard Saginaw ($3). After not riding the second and getting beat a head in the Easy Goer Stakes, Dominguez reeled off four consecutive victories – the Xtra Heat Stakes aboard Bellamy Star ($11.40), a maiden New York-bred claimer on Little Larky ($9.30), the Spectacular Bid Division of the New York Stallion Stakes on Darrin’s Dilemma ($7.10), and a $7,500 claimer on Show Trial ($3.40).
After finishing third aboard Brampton with a little trouble in the stretch, Dominguez won his third stakes race of the day when he guided Hessonite ($4.70) to an easy victory in the Cupecoy’s Joy.

Dominguez’s mount in the 10th, Giarixa – the 2-1 morning-line favorite – was an early scratch.

Dominguez’s accomplishment overshadowed the terrific performance of Friend Or Foe in the Easy Goer Stakes. Making his first start since finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile on Nov. 27, Friend Or Foe stalked the pacesetting Rail Trip – making his first start since finishing fifth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Oct. 2 – through rapid fractions of 23.23 seconds, 46.01, and 1:09.14 for the first six furlongs.

Alex Solis kept after Friend Or Foe, who was able to wear down Grade 1-winner Rail Trip in the final strides. Friend Or Foe, a 4-year-old New York-bred son of Friends Lake, covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:40.13 and returned $4.30 to win.

“He showed me what I thought I had known all along, the horse was fit and he was ready,” said John Kimmel, who trains Friend Or Foe for owners/breeders Chester and Mary Broman. “It’s too bad he had to run so hard to beat a Grade 1 winner. Rail Trip ran a really good race. My horse ran well, and I think he’s going to move forward off the race.”

Friend Or Foe, who has yet to win a graded stakes, is now 4 for 4 at Belmont Park and will make his next start in the Grade 2, $300,000 Suburban Handicap here July 2.

Dominguez's six-pack of wins:

Race 1

Race 4

Race 5

Race 6

Race 7

Race 9