Jockey Eric Cancel ties NYRA record with 6 wins

PHOTOGRAPHER:

Jockey Eric Cancel holds up six fingers after My Boy Tate won the $100,000 Haynesfield at Aqueduct on Sunday. Cancel rode a total of six winners on the day, tying a NYRA circuit record for a single card. (CHELSEA DURAND/NYRA PHOTO)

OZONE PARK — Jockey Eric Cancel tied a New York Racing Association single-day record with six wins at Aqueduct on Sunday, capturing his first career riding title on the circuit in the process with a furious comeback in the winter-meet standings.

Cancel entered the eight-race card trailing Kendrick Carmouche by four victories, but made a strong final push and capped it by winning six races on a single card for just the 23rd time in NYRA’s recorded history, ending his meet with 78 total victories.

Cancel finished in the money in all eight races, adding a runner-up and a third-place finish in the finale in his bid to become the first jockey to win seven races in a single day at a NYRA track.

Other jockeys on that list include Hall of Famers Angel Cordero Jr., John Velazquez, Steve Cauthen, Ron Turcotte, Jorge Velasquez, Mike Smith, Bill Shoemaker, Javier Castellano and Ramon Dominguez.

A jockey has ridden six winners on a card at Saratoga Race Course on three occasions, Velazquez in 2001 and Dominguez twice in 2012.

Among the races won by the 24-year-old Cancel on Sunday was the feature, the $100,000 Haynesfield stakes, aboard My Boy Tate.

“I’ve been trying to take everything in a good way and try to make every step better and better,” Cancel told the New York Racing Association. “I think right now, I’m on my top game. I know the guys are coming back from Florida, and it’ll be a little tough because a lot of mounts will go back to them. But I’ll just keep on grinding. Nothing is going to stop me, and I’ll just keep on doing my best.”