Panamanian jockey Dick Cardenas rode his 700th career winner at Caymanas Park on Saturday, June 26. The milestone achievement was etched aboard the six-year-old bay horse Patriarch, trained by Fitzgerald Richards, who won the Supreme Ventures Limited 20th Anniversary Trophy feature over 1100 metres.

Patriarch defeated his stable companion God of Love by a short head in a time of 1:06.1, built on dictating fractions of 23.1, 46 seconds flat. Patriarch was sent off as the 1/9 favourite, while God of Love, with joint champion jockey Dane Nelson aboard, was the 9/5 second favourite in the field of seven as Universal Boss was a late scratch.

Cardenas thus became the 12th rider to ride 700 or more winners at the park. Winston Griffiths leads with 1,663 winners.

Following the moment of triumph and milestone achievement, Cardenas responded: “I feel very happy and motivated to win this race and reach seven hundred winners in Jamaica, and I am pleased to do so with one of my favourite horses, on whom I have won a number of races as a two-year-old. Patriarch was my favourite horse from a baby, and to give me my 700th winner makes me feel extraordinarily happy in the moment of succeeding with a quite fitting performance. By winning this race to reach the 700-win figure is an event in itself. I have now ridden over 1000 winners overall, including those that I have won at other racing jurisdictions. The exact figure I cannot quantify at the moment but is over 1000 winners all told and I have ridden in Panama and in the United States. My next move at present is to strive to get to 1000 winners in Jamaica. That is my aim at present so, hopefully, I can get there.”

Cardenas arrived in Jamaica in 2008 to ride for the stables of trainer Percy Hussey. It was not long before the saddle-competent rider opened his winning account on the shores of Jamaica aboard St Bess on October 12, 2008 at odds of 19/1 for the Hussey Stables.

He then adopted Jamaica as his new home, with brief departures to return later. Cardenas established himself as a capable, dependable, and trusted jockey, with good judgement and the tenacity to win races with horses from the bottom rung of participation to Classic-winning standards.

He has won several Classic races while riding in Jamaica, including a gate-to-wire upset win on Technomoto in the Jamaica Derby, and his crowing moment, thus far, came in 2010 when he piloted to Triple Crown glory.

Already this year, Cardenas has been on board a Classic winner, Miniature Man, in the 2000 Guineas.