Kendrick Carmouche

Kendrick Carmouche earned a reputation the king of the riders in Philadelphia when he had five straight seasons with more than 200 victories and won a record four consecutive titles at Parx Racing, formerly called Philadelphia Park.

Carmouche reached his milestone 2000^th victory in September 2011. The native of Vinton, La., comes from a riding family. His father, Sylvester Jr., and his brother Sylvester III also ride professionally. Carmouche began his riding career in his home state, first at Delta Downs before moving to Evangeline Downs. Early in his career before moving to Philadelphia, Carmouche, his father and his brother rode at the same meets. He now rides at tracks on the East Coast and is one of the leading riders at Aqueduct.

Carmouche earned a career-best six graded stakes victories in 2015, including two on Goldy Espony, and posted a career-best mark in purse earnings with $8,116,788. He continued to have success over the next four years despite missing time due to an injury suffered during a fall 2018 spill at Kentucky Downs. During 2017-18, Carmouche was the regular rider for top turf sprinter Pure Sensation.

Carmouche was inducted into the Parx hall of fame in 2015. He won seven jockey titles at the Philadelphia area track including four titles in a row from 2008-2011.

On Dec. 5, 2020, Carmouche earned his first Grade 1 win aboard True Timber in the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, where he was the leading rider for the fall meet that ended Dec. 6, 2020. In 2021, Carmouche guided Bourbonic to a 72.25-1 upset in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World to punch his ticket for the first time to the Kentucky Derby.

After moving his tack to the New York circuit, Carmouche has consistently been ranked among the top riders in the standings and won the Adueduct fall jockey title in 2020 and the Aqueduct spring meet championship in 2023.

Carmouche enjoyed a career-best year in 2025 when he ranked ninth in North America by earnings ($14,623,286) and had 188 wins. Among the highlights was winning his 4,000th race aboard Crimson Light on April 5 at Aqueduct Racetrack. Carmouche was the recipient of the 2025 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, an honor based on a nationwide vote among fellow riders.

Deterministic helped Carmouche add to his career tally of Grade 1 winners in 2025 when the pair teamed up to win the Manhattan Stakes at Belmont at the Big A followed by the Fourstardave Stakes at Saratoga.

Carmouche's biggest win aboard Deterministic was still yet to come, however, and it was accomplished at the 2026 Breeders' Cup with a victory in the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile. The mount was the seventh career Breeders' Cup mount for Carmouche and marked his first career Breeders' Cup win.