The odds are good that Irving Moncada will have his own cheering sections when he rides at Keeneland. The apprentice jockey grew up in Lexington and is a 2019 graduate of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School just 3 miles from the track.
"As a local kid who went to school just down the road, my classmates and everybody come out and cheer me on," said Moncada, who is named on Acceptance Speech in the fourth race on Friday's opening-day card.
His fans will have plenty to cheer about as Moncada continues building on his record. He was the second-leading rider at the recently concluded Turfway Park meet with 42 wins that included scores aboard California Burrito in the John Battaglia Memorial (L) and Coming in Hot in the Turfway Prevue.
Moncada has been entrenched in the Thoroughbred world his entire life. His father is a longtime employee at John and Debby Oxley's Fawn Leap Farm in Midway. The boutique operation is renowned for breeding superior racers such as last year's Toyota Blue Grass (G1) winner and champion 3-year-old male, Sierra Leone.
"My father would take me out to the farm, and I grew up loving the horses and going to the races at Keeneland," Moncada said. "I did a little bit of everything. At first my father let me handle the mares and as I got older, he let me handle the weanlings. Then I got old enough to handle the yearlings and did a little bit of work at the Keeneland September Sale."
Moncada began honing his riding skills while working for trainer Justin Wojczynski at The Thoroughbred Center in Lexington. After riding one race in 2023, he became an established rookie with 41 victories from 280 mounts the following year. Overall Moncada has collected 83 wins from 527 mounts that have banked $3.26 million.
As an apprentice, Moncada receives a 5-pound weight allowance on the horses he rides. That perk, which expires in late July, gives owners and trainers an added incentive to use his services on race day.
"Riding races at Keeneland means a lot," he said. "It is home and where I grew up going to the races."
