Awaiting surgery. (Photo courtesy of Carol Cedeno)
Support Carol’s Healing Journey on Go Fund Me
Compiled by Maribeth Kalinich
Jockey Carol Cedeno has made 10,031 starts with 1,346 first place finishes. In her last start at Monmouth at the Meadowlands, she was severely injured.
Carol rode three mounts at Delaware Park on Saturday, September 27 including a fifth place aboard Conch Fried Rice in the Christiana Stakes.
The seasoned jockey then traveled to the Meadowlands in New Jersey to ride two at Monmouth at the Meadowlands meet that runs under the lights.
After riding Richie’s Valentine to a fourth-place finish, Carol was aboard Micro Brewsky in Race 4, an Allowance Optional Claiming race.
Micro Brewsky raced off the pace inside. He and Cedeno came two wide into the lane, ralling on the rail, gaining a short lead past midstretch.
The 5-year-old Jersey bred appeared to make a winning move along the rail late approaching the finish line for the one-mile turf race.
Then, according to Carol, her mount “stepped in a hole on the turf” and stumbled badly tossing Carol to the ground.
Cedeno was conscious and gave a thumb’s up as she was taken off the track on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance. She was taken to Hackensack Medical Center complaining of pain to her wrist and ribs.
Cedeno was stepped by two horses, one on her back fracturing her ribs and spine, the other on her wrist that was dislocated and fractured.
The tough athlete said the fractures in her spine are small and will heal on their own. She reportedly had surgery on her wrist on Monday and could be soon resting at home.
Sadly, the injury to Micro Brewsky was catastrophic in nature and the gelding had to be euthanized. (Our deepest condolences to owner and breeder Eagle View Farm.)
Carol’s Beginnings
Although Cedeno had grown up around horses in Puerto Rico she didn’t get the racing bug until around age 12. Her cousin had a few horses and invited her to the racetrack. It was then bug began to bite.
“[My cousin] told me I could be a jockey, since I was little,” she remembers. “So, he took me one day with my dad, and I decided I did want to be a jockey.”
Carol scored her first win at El Comandante Racetrack in Puerto Rico aboard Rey Divino on January 14, 2007. She rode her first race in the U.S. at the former Philadelphia Park (now Parx) on April 9 that year getting her first U.S. victory April 24th aboard Coco’s Gold.
Riding her first mount Cambridge Belle at Delaware Park in June 2007, Cedeno did not become a regular rider there until 2014. She holds six riding titles there also finishing second in the standings in 2017. On July 11, 2018, Cedeno notched seven victories on one day at Delaware Park.
Her record setting seventh victory came in Race 10, the Arabian race, aboard Tiffanys Dream.
In late November of 2023, Carol Cedeno was a journeywoman in the Mid-Atlantic when trainer Kerri Raven encouraged her to join the Tampa Bay Downs jockey colony.
Cedeno said she had mixed feelings. She had two young children to raise while building her career.
“She’s always been telling me to come to Tampa, that I would do well,” said Cedeno. “And my agent (Mark Mace) told me almost every day I had to come here.”
Carol moved her tack back to the Mid-Atlantic in April 2024. In January 2025, she went to New York as a regular rider at Aqueduct where she had been based in 2008.
Based at Delaware since May Cedeno has been picking up mounts all throughout the Mid-Atlantic area at Monmouth Park, Penn National, Parx, Laurel Park, Pimlico and Colonial.
In May, Cedeno had the honor of winning the very last race run at Old Hilltop before the facility closed for demolition.
Cedeno would guide Arabian Diamond Gem AA, to a 14-1/2 length victory in the Grade 1, UAE President Cup Stakes.
“It feels amazing,” Cedeno says, reflecting on the moment. “I was so happy to win that race.”
This year she is seventh in the standings at Delaware in a very deep jockey colony with 21 wins in 180 starts hitting the board an additional 34 times earning $736,900 sitting fifth in earnings.
The 34-year-old jockey has over $35.6 million in career earnings making it the hard way mostly in allowance and claiming classes.
If you would like to donate to help Carol with expenses, Megan Dero Halter has started a Go Fund Me to assist. Click here to donate.
For updates on Carol’s condition follow Megan on X.
I just talked to Carol Cedeno – she’s having trouble texting because of her broken wrist – but SHE IS IN GOOD SPIRITS! She said the fractures in her spine are small and will heal on their own. Her wrist was stepped on by one of horses and was dislocated and fractured. She’s
— Megan Dero Halter (@MegHalterEsq) September 28, 2025
We wish Carol the best in her healing journey.
