In career form, Davis hungry to win riding title

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The two months he missed last spring due to a broken clavicle may have reinvigorated jockey Dylan Davis.

“I was out for two months and I was watching all my horses win and it made me mad,” Davis said Sunday at Aqueduct. “When I came back, I wanted to come back stronger and do better than what I was doing before. Sometimes you get in a little rut and you’re content with where you are, and it kind of reset me.”

Davis did come back stronger and the statistics say better. After returning to action in early June, Davis enjoyed his best Saratoga and Belmont Park fall meets. In October, he won his first Grade 1 aboard Mutamakina in the E.P. Taylor at Woodbine.

As the calendar turns to 2022, Davis, 27, has his sights set on winning his first riding title this winter at Aqueduct. Through the first quarter of the meet, Davis has 19 wins, second in the standings behind Kendrick Carmouche (22). Davis won six races last week, including Sunday’s Rego Park Stakes aboard the promising New York-bred 3-year-old colt Barese.

“I’ve been in the top three or four the past five years and I really want to get this title,” Davis said, referring to the Aqueduct meet. “It would be a real accomplishment for me.”

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If not for the injury suffered last March 20 at Aqueduct, Davis would have had his best year in wins in 2021. As it was, he won 130 races – his third-highest total – but his purse money won was a single-year best $9.49 million topped by his three graded wins aboard Mutamakina.

“I’ve been improving little by little each year and most importantly I’m getting better horses,” said Davis, who has three stakes wins at Aqueduct’s winter session. “After that, I got to get the job done. I’m getting more confident out there, I’m comfortable with where I’m putting my horses and being able to be patient and being able to get the job done.”

Davis looks well-mounted for Aqueduct’s two $100,000 stakes this Saturday. In the Interborough for older female sprinters, Davis rides with Glass Ceiling, on whom he won the Garland of Roses. In the Franklin Square, for 3-year-old New York-bred fillies, he rides debut winner Thinking It Over.