Carrasco Notches Major Milestone at Laurel Park

Jockey Victor Carrasco accomplished his 1,000th North American win June 27 at Laurel Park in the featured race aboard Hillwood Stable's Outofthepark, based on Equibase statistics from the United States and Canada. The milestone came a day before his 28th birthday.

Equibase also notes that Carrasco won 12 races in Puerto Rico. The rider snagged his 1,000th overall win Jan. 26 at Laurel Park, riding Ronald Brown's Justin Front to a gate-to-wire victory in a starter optional claiming event.

Carrasco and Outofthepark were the 2-1 second choice in Saturday's $61,245 allowance optional claiming race for 3-year-olds and up running a mile on the turf. The pair rallied from fifth to get up by three-quarters of a length, hitting the wire in 1:35.57 on a firm course. 

A native of Guayama, Puerto Rico, Carrasco graduated from the famed Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school. He came to the United States in March 2013 and rode his first domestic winner that month at Tampa Bay Downs.

During his rookie season, Carrasco led all bug riders with 215 wins and $4.35 million in purse earnings to become the 10th Maryland-based jockey to be named champion apprentice. He ranked third in the state with 95 wins and captured Laurel's fall meet title, fueled by a streak of riding at least one winner in 24 of the final 28 racing days.

Carrasco also owns summer meet titles at Laurel in 2015 and 2017 as well as Pimlico Race Course's 2015 spring stand. He has battled injuries in recent years, missing nine months from September 2017 to June 2018 with a broken fibula and tibia in his right leg, but rebounded to finish 2019 with 98 wins and $3.9 million in purse earnings, his highest totals since 2016.

From 6,076 career starts through Saturday, Carrasco's record stood at 1,012-936-905, and his mounts had earned $29,358,390.