In limited opportunities so far during the Monmouth Park meet, jockey Axel Concepcion has made the most of them. The latest proof of that was last weekend, when he won the Boiling Springs Stakes with Sigh No More and the Tale of the Cat Stakes with Tom’s Magic.

That gave him four stakes wins at the meet – from just 61 mounts so far.

Owners and trainers are starting to notice, too: On Friday’s eight race card the 20-year-old Concepcion is listed to ride in seven of the races.

“I’m trying to take advantage of the opportunities that have come to me,” said Concepcion, who is based at Monmouth Park for the first time this summer. “I want to win as many races as I can but I also realize I came to the Monmouth meet two weeks after it started, so I was probably a little behind.

“But it has been great since I settled in here. A lot of people from Kentucky have supported me when they ship into Monmouth and that has helped a lot because many of them have good horses.”

From his 61 mounts so far, Concepcion has nine wins – good for sixth in the rider standings. By comparison, Paco Lopez and Samuel Marin, 1-2 in the jockey standings, have had 120 and 128 mounts, respectively.

But stakes wins tend to get people to notice, with Concepcion having also won the NYRA Bets Pegasus Stakes with Bracket Buster and the Cliff Hanger Stakes with Otago.

His four stakes wins have come from four different trainers who shipped in.

“I’m working hard to get even more of the Monmouth Park trainers to ride me,” said Concepcion, who won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top apprentice in 2023. “It has been a good meet so far considering I came here two weeks after it started. Now I see things picking up.”

His win aboard Bracket Buster in the Pegasus Stakes could lead to another career highlight if trainer Vicki Oliver decides to go forward with the horse in the Grade 1 NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes on July 19.

Concepcion has never ridden in a Grade 1 race.

“They have not told me if they are going to the Haskell,” he said of Bracket Buster’s connections. “I saw that he worked Tuesday, and he looked good in the work, so hopefully they will run him in the Haskell. It would mean a lot to ride in a Grade 1. Those opportunities are why I am working hard and why I am here.”

Tom’s Magic, meanwhile, is being pointed to the $1 million King’s Plate at Woodbine next month, according to trainer Michael Stidham. If Concepcion keeps the mount that would be another career highlight, he said.

Until then, the Puerto Rico native will continue his peripatetic ways this weekend, taking a flight following Monmouth Park’s Friday card to ride at Ellis Park, where he is listed to ride in seven of the nine races on that Saturday card. He will return for Monmouth Park’s card on Sunday.

That is not unusual for him since he has shown a willingness to ride wherever there is a need, having started in the winter at the Fair Grounds – where he was eighth in the rider standings – and then riding at Keeneland, Indiana Downs, Churchill Downs, Evangeline and Delaware before settling in at Monmouth Park for the summer.

Overall, Concepcion has 327 career wins and one Grade 3 victory.

“I want to ride as much as I can,” said Concepcion. “I’m still young and I have a lot I want to accomplish.”