Jockey race boils down to McCarthy and Carrasco again

Trevor McCarthy and Victor Carrasco are one-two in the jockey standings at Laurel Park, with McCarthy leading, 61-57. The meet began Jan. 1 and ends Sunday.

Although the winner has yet to be decided, this will be the sixth time since the Laurel fall meet of 2013 that McCarthy and Carrasco have taken down the top two spots in the standings.

Carrasco defeated McCarthy, 69-50, at the 2013 fall meet. McCarthy came back to be leading rider over Carrasco at all three Maryland Jockey Club meets in 2014.

McCarthy was injured at the beginning of the 2015 season and then rode at Monmouth Park over the summer, finishing second in the standings. When McCarthy and Carrasco squared off at Pimlico, Carrasco won the title, 35-34.

Jevian Toledo won last fall’s Laurel title over McCarthy and Carrasco. The summer-meet title went to Carrasco, and the year began with Sheldon Russell winning the Laurel winter-spring title.

Russell hasn’t ridden since November, and he got on a horse for the first time since then about a week ago but is about two months away from a comeback. He injured his labrum and fractured a shoulder during a morning training accident.

First post on Kentucky Derby Day at Laurel will be 12:15 p.m. Eastern. Racing shifts to Pimlico on Thursday.