Jockey Chris DeCarlo rode the 1,000th winner of his career at Monmouth Park June 23, piloting Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbreds’ Oconee Gold to victory in the eighth race on the card for trainer Ramon Moya.
The 44-year-old rider scored his 999th victory just one race earlier on La Marca stable’s Dontwait Toolong for trainer Jane Cibelli.
“It’s exciting,” said DeCarlo, a New Jersey native who began riding at 16 and has been a member of jockey colonies at tracks all over the East Coast and around the world. “I just want to continue to win races and I know if I do that, I’ll keep being successful and keep getting to do what I love.”
DeCarlo won the 1986 Haskell Invitational (gr. I) on Wise Times when he was only 17. He led all riders in stakes wins at Monmouth in 2005. The following year he piloted Park Avenue Ball to three stakes wins, including Monmouth’s Philip H. Iselin Breeders' Cup Handicap (gr. III). Recently, he spent the 2010-2011 winter in Saudi Arabia riding first call for King Abdullah Bin A'Aziz Al Saud.
Jockey Chris DeCarlo celebrates the 1,000th winner of his career at Monmouth Park June 23.
Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO