Daniel Centeno lands milestone win
Earned 3,500th victory July 1 at Delaware Park
The Biz
July 10, 2026
When Daniel Centeno guided Capitaine to victory in the fifth race at Delaware Park on July 1, the milestone was far larger than another trip to the winner’s circle. The victory was the 3,500th of a career that has spanned three decades and established the veteran rider as one of the most successful jockeys ever to compete regularly in the Mid-Atlantic.
Centeno has now won 3,500 races from more than 19,200 mounts while amassing over $76 million in purse earnings. Along the way, he has collected 12 graded stakes victories.
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Among those graded stakes triumphs are four at Delaware Park, a track at which he has excelled over the years: the 2022 Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial aboard Key Biscayne, the 2021 Grade 2 Delaware Handicap with Miss Marissa, the 2016 Grade 3 Delaware Oaks aboard Dark Nile, and the 2014 Obeah Stakes with Gamay Noir.
Centeno and the Jim Ryerson-trained Miss Marissa teamed up for $461,000 in purse earnings, making her Centeno’s most profitable equine partner.
A native of Venezuela, Centeno’s path to the milestone has taken him from South America to Florida and eventually to the Mid-Atlantic. He first rode in the United States in 1996, winning a pair of races at Calder Race Course before returning to Venezuela. Seven years later, he came back to the U.S. permanently, and his steady success quickly made him a fixture at Delaware Park, Monmouth Park, Parx Racing, Laurel Park and other regional tracks, as well as his winter home at Tampa Bay Downs.
Rather than chasing records, Centeno has long focused on consistency.
“I’ve always approached racing on a day-to-day basis,” he said in a 2023 interview. “I love winning and I try to do the best I can.”
That philosophy has translated into remarkable longevity. Through changing circuits, new generations of riders and thousands of races, Centeno has remained a dependable presence in the jockey colony, regularly finishing among the leaders in victories and earnings.
His milestone victory came aboard the Cal Lynch-trained Capitaine, who rallied from just off the pace before taking over in upper stretch and defeating Starmetal to win the one-mile-and-70-yard turf maiden claiming event by two lengths. Capitaine, an Instagrand gelding, is now one-for-six in his career.
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