Rice continues Aqueduct brilliance with five-win day
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Linda Rice’s domination of Aqueduct’s winter meet hit a crescendo Thursday when she won five races on the eight-race card, with her trainees finishing first and second in two of those events.
Rice, who did not have runners in the other three races on the card, was owner or co-owner of four of those winners.
It was the second time Rice won five races on a single Aqueduct card. On April 4, 2024, Rice went 5 for 5 there.
"I thought we had some chances, but there were horses in there when I looked at the paper that I thought had a chance, but they might run third,” Rice told New York Racing Association publicity. “Racing can be a very humbling game.”
The five wins are believed to be one shy of the record for trainer wins on a single NYRA card. On Oct. 16, 1993, Shug McGaughey won six races – including five graded stakes – at Belmont Park. Todd Pletcher also won five races at Saratoga on Aug. 30, 2004.
Rice’s big day began in race 2, when Always Shopping ($12.12) rallied by the Rice-trained Sheer Will (4-5) to win by a half-length. Rice then won race 3, a $30,000 claiming race, with Adventurist ($5.74) by a head. In race 4, Sweetest Princes ($6.62) won an allowance by 2 3/4 lengths.
After sitting out race 5, Rice finished one-two in the sixth when Vino Frizzante ($4.02) beat Chocolatechocolate by 3 1/2 lengths. Rice did not have a horse in race 7, but she came back to win the eighth and final race with heavily favored With the Angels ($3.38), who received a perfect trip winning a second-level allowance by 3 1/2 lengths
Sahin Civaci rode the first two winners for Rice, while Jose Lezcano rode the final three.
Rice’s five-win day gave her 20 wins from 63 starters at the Aqueduct winter meet, which began Jan. 1. Trainer Brad Cox is second in the standings with six wins.
In 2025, Rice set a NYRA single-year record for wins by a trainer with 172.
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