Carol Cedeno all the way back, “happy doing it”
Saved first wins of comeback for return to Delaware Park
The Biz
August 18, 2026
For Carol Cedeno, the road back to the saddle began with a question she wasn’t sure she could answer.
After suffering a devastating injury in a race at the Meadowlands on Sept. 27, 2025, Cedeno spent months dealing with five fractures in her lower back and a shattered wrist. The physical recovery was difficult. The mental part may have been harder.
“There was a point I didn’t even think I was going to make it back,” Cedeno said on the August 13 episode of the Midlantic Racing Today podcast. “Because [of how hard] was the recovery.”
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But Cedeno did make it back. And when she did, she made sure her first wins came at the place that has been home for much of her career.
Cedeno returned to riding in March at Camarero in Puerto Rico, where she was allowed to ride three horses as a test of her recovery. She felt good enough afterward to receive clearance to continue. She then returned to the Mid-Atlantic, gradually working her way back into the regular routine.
On May 13 at Delaware Park, she got the moment she had been waiting for, winning aboard Vanaka and Irish Jig for her first two victories since the injury.
“It feels really good,” she said. “After all that happened and I was going through, at one point I don’t even think I was going to make it back.”
Cedeno’s return has been more than simply a comeback story. She has resumed doing what she has done for years: winning races. Through this year, she has 16 victories, bringing her career total to 1,362 wins from 10,230 starts, with purse earnings of more than $36.4 million.
Delaware has been central to those numbers. Cedeno came to the track around 2012 after spending time at Parx Racing and later at Tampa Bay Downs and in Indiana. A friend encouraged her to come to Delaware and offered to help her get started. She began winning almost immediately, moved to Delaware and stayed.
She went on to win six consecutive Delaware riding titles, establishing herself as one of the track’s most successful and recognizable riders.
Cedeno’s path was not necessarily an easy one, particularly as a woman in a sport where opportunities can be difficult to come by.
“In the beginning, a little bit,” she said when asked whether some trainers were reluctant to use her. “But when you prove to them, like, you can do it and you start winning races, it’s a little bit more easy for you to get better rides.”
She has also tried to make that road easier for others. Cedeno said she enjoys supporting younger female riders and helping them find opportunities, believing the women at Delaware tend to stick together.
Her own riding style, she said, is particularly suited to horses that come from behind. She likes horses that can relax before making one decisive move.
Among her favorite horses have been Golden Candy and Witty, both of whom earned more than $300,000 with Cedeno aboard. Golden Candy, in particular, remains special. Cedeno rode him roughly 25 times and loved his easygoing nature both in the morning and in races.
Now, though, the focus is on what comes next.
Cedeno wants the same thing most riders want: better horses, bigger races and, perhaps, one special horse to carry her to a major stakes victory.
She also has two children, a daughter who is turning 18 and a son turning 15. Neither appears interested in following Mom into racing. Cedeno is perfectly happy with that.
“They just think I’m crazy because they say this is dangerous,” she said. “For one point, yeah, I’m happy because this business is super hard.”
Cedeno knows that better than most. Yet after everything she’s been through, she still climbs aboard.
“I feel happy doing it,” she said. “I really like what I’m doing.”
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