Jockey Ramon Dominguez’s assault on the NYRA record books continued today when he piloted Freight Forward to victory in Aqueduct Racetrack’s 2nd race to register his 341st New York win in 2009, passing Angel Cordero, Jr. to move into sole possession of second place for wins in a year by a jockey at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga.

“I’m very happy that I have been able to do so well in New York,” Dominguez said. “Like I always say, it’s nothing but a reflection of the type of horses that I ride and the support that I get from horsemen and owners. It’s overwhelming, especially with such a colony of great riders here.”

The only jockey with more wins in a season at The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) tracks than Dominguez is Steve Cauthen, who registered an incredible 433 victories in 1977. With 26 full racing days left in the 2009 Aqueduct calendar, the 32-year-old Venezuelan jockey will need to average nearly four wins per day to pass Cauthen. So far in 2009, Dominguez has recorded four victories in a day on seven different occasions and five victories twice. He has registered three victories an astounding 40 times in New York this year.

Four riders have scored more than 300 wins in a single year at Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga, two of them twice. Hall of Famer Cordero won 340 races in 1982 and 309 in 1983, while fellow Hall of Famer Mike Smith brought home 330 winners in 1991 and 313 in 1993. In 2006, Eibar Coa won 303 races.

Earlier this year, Dominguez set a modern-day record for victories at Belmont Park’s spring/summer meet with 98 winners. Cordero held the mark for most victories since records were first kept, bringing home 92 winners during the 1982 Belmont Park spring/summer meet.

Dominguez, who moved his tack to New York from the Mid-Atlantic circuit earlier this year, is currently NYRA’s leading rider, having won the title at Saratoga Race Course for the first time, Aqueduct Racetrack’s inner track and spring meets, and Belmont Park’s fall meet.

Dominguez has 341 winners from 1,417 mounts in New York this year, with more than $14 million in purses. He is winning with 24 percent of his mounts. Nationally, he ranks second in wins with 353, five behind Russell Baze, and is third in total purse earnings with more than $16.9 million.

A native of Venezuela, Dominguez came to the United States in 1995 and rode his first winner in March of 1996. Beginning in 2007, he divided his time between New York and Delaware Park, where he won five riding titles in 11 years, before moving to New York for good this spring with his wife, Sharon, and two children, Alexander and Matthew.