For Carmouche, two firsts, a New York riding title and a Grade 1 win

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – To Kendrick Carmouche, it was never about ability. It was always about opportunity.

This fall, Carmouche took advantage of the opportunity afforded him by horsemen and won the Aqueduct fall meet riding title, his first title since moving his tack to New York from Parx Racing in 2015. Carmouche won 23 races at the 18-day fall stand, four more than Jose Lezcano.

“My first title in New York, I’m very blessed,” Carmouche, 36, said. “I came to New York five years ago and I got a title for the fall meet, I’m very pleased with myself. I’m sure mom and dad and all my fans and people are just so happy for me. I’m on cloud nine right now. I might not come down until next Thursday, but that’s okay, I love it.”

The meet highlight – a career highlight – came Saturday when Carmouche guided True Timber to victory in the Cigar Mile, his first Grade 1 victory.

“This means so much to me, this is the biggest win of my career and I hope I have many more blessed ones,” said Carmouche, whose 3,314 career victories rank him 100th all-time in Thoroughbred racing.

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Carmouche capped the meet by winning two more races Sunday, including the $250,000 Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion Series aboard Laobanonaprayer.

Carmouche won nine races during the first three days of the meet, taking advantage of the absence of many of the higher profile riders who were at Keeneland for the Breeders’ Cup. However, when the likes of Irad Ortiz Jr., Jose Ortiz, Joel Rosario, and Jose Lezcano returned, Carmouche continued to win. He won races for 14 different trainers, including Todd Pletcher for whom he won seven races from 13 mounts at the meet.

“You got to be ready for opportunity when opportunity comes, and this is the point that I’m at right now in my career,” Carmouche said. “I’m ready for any opportunity, this is why I think things are going in the right direction. They’re giving me good horses to ride. I think it’s going to open up eyes of other trainers, other owners to see that I can do the same thing [as well] if not better than those guys.”

In September 2018, Carmouche suffered a broken leg in a spill at Kentucky Downs. He missed 5 1/2 months before returning in February 2019.

“I had gotten hurt, things got set back a little bit, with the type of person I am working hard and having a lot of heart and fight it got me back to where I’m at today,” Carmouche said.

Carmouche will look to build on his successful fall season when Aqueduct’s winter meet opens. Carmouche, who finished sixth in wins last winter with 35, will vie for business this winter with New York regulars Manny Franco, Jose Lezcano, Dylan Davis, and Eric Cancel as well as Maryland invader Trevor McCarthy.

“You know I love the winter meet,” Carmouche said. “New York has really good racing and really good purses thanks to things getting started back in the country. The sky’s the limit. We just go to keep fighting, we got to stay in the fight.”

Pletcher said Carmouche will certainly be in the mix this winter along with Manny Franco and Jose Lezcano.

“He’s a smart rider, he’s aggressive,” Pletcher said. “He’s won some good races for us, and we’ll try to keep him in the lineup.”

Carmouche hopes to stay aboard True Timber when he is scheduled to make his next start in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 23 at Gulfstream Park. Trainer Jack Sisterson said that he would give Carmouche the opportunity to ride, but acknowledged that he doesn’t want to take Carmouche away from any business he has in New York. Due to COVID-19 protocols, Carmouche would most likely have to miss the week before and the week after the Pegasus in order to keep the mount on a horse who figures to be a longshot in that race.