Ramon Dominguez
Ramon began riding horses at age 16 in Venezuela, despite the strong disapproval of his father, who wanted him to become a doctor. At his father’s suggestion, he started to learn show jumping instead, but after about a year he slipped away to a nearby training center, where he began getting on racehorses. After about a week, his father found out and ended up “being very supportive.” Dominguez, however, had to promise to finish high school. He came to the United States from his native Venezuela in 1995, and began riding in 1996 at Hialeah Park. First win was aboard Solo Moondance in March of that year. More recently he won the 2009 Spring/Summer Belmont Park riding title with 98 wins, 27 more than Rajiv Maragh, also led the Saratoga standings with 45 wins, and was also the leading earner with $2,734,486. On October 2, he became only the fifth jockey in history to win 300 races in one year at New York's Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga. The other riders to accomplish the feat were Angel Cordero Jr., Steve Cauthen, Mike Smith and Eibar Coa. Mr. Dominguez met his wife Sharon at Delaware Park, where she galloped horses in the mornings and ponied in the afternoons. They married the day after the 2001 Belmont Stakes, but delayed their honeymoon until January of 2002 because of the opportunity to win the national riding title. Although leading rider at Delaware Park for 2004-2007, Ramon finally switched his tack permanently to New York in 2009.
