Who Is The Top Jockey?

On Sunday Kent Desormeaux won his 5,000th career race, becoming just the 23rd jockey to accomplish that feat. Below, courtesy of NYRA, are the top 100 riders of all-time, by wins.

Name

Starts

Wins

Seconds

Thirds

Earnings

Russell A. Baze*

44,608

10,204

7,703

6,420

$156,377,346

Laffit A. Pincay, Jr.

48,486

9,530

7,784

6,650

$237,120,625

William Shoemaker

40,350

8,833

6,136

4,987

$123,375,524

Pat Day

40,298

8,803

6,860

5,687

$297,912,019

David A. Gall

41,775

7,396

6,525

6,131

$24,972,821

Chris J. McCarron

34,239

7,141

5,670

4,672

$263,985,505

Angel Cordero, Jr.

38,657

7,057

6,136

5,359

$164,570,227

Jorge Velasquez

40,852

6,795

6,178

5,755

$125,544,379

Earlie Fires*

44,932

6,458

5,554

5,375

$86,036,217

Sandy Hawley

31,455

6,449

4,825

4,159

$88,681,292

Larry Snyder

35,681

6,388

5,030

3,440

$47,207,289

Eddie J. Delahoussaye

39,213

6,384

5,676

5,586

$195,884,940

Carl Gambardella

39,018

6,349

5,953

5,353

$29,389,041

Mario G. Pino*

37,145

6,091

5,559

5,158

$108,463,619

Edgar S. Prado*

31,820

6,087

5,182

4,493

$208,336,436

John Longden

32,413

6,032

4,914

4,273

$24,665,800

Jerry D. Bailey

30,855

5,893

4,553

3,925

$296,104,129

Jacinto Vasquez

37,337

5,228

4,714

4,510

$85,754,115

Ronald D. Ardoin

32,335

5,226

4,298

3,793

$58,908,059

Anthony S. Black*

33,258

5,111

4,418

4,292

$60,379,083

Perry Wayne Ouzts*

39,968

5,086

4,988

4,873

$30,093,336

Mark Guidry*

31,321

5,043

4,466

4,185

$100,859,397

Kent J. Desormeaux*

25,547

5,000

4,147

3,565

$208,386,918

Rick Wilson

24,681

4,939

4,250

3,461

$77,303,270

Timothy T. Doocy*

32,360

4,938

4,395

4,079

$64,400,803

Gary L. Stevens

27,594

4,888

4,365

3,976

$221,207,064

Rodolfo Baez

28,609

4,875

4,291

4,103

$30,474,225

Eddie Arcaro

24,092

4,779

3,807

3,302

$30,039,543

Mike E. Smith*

28,734

4,697

4,043

3,676

$189,712,600

Alex O. Solis*

30,233

4,596

4,226

4,287

$208,859,807

Don Brumfield

33,223

4,573

4,076

3,758

$43,567,861

Calvin H. Borel*

30,454

4,501

4,074

3,547

$95,127,537

Steve Brooks

30,330

4,451

4,219

3,658

$18,239,817

Craig Perret

27,164

4,415

3,895

3,611

$113,837,299

Eddie Maple

33,974

4,398

4,516

4,335

$105,338,573

Walter Blum

28,673

4,382

3,913

3,350

$26,497,189

Richard Migliore*

29,344

4,352

3,892

3,651

$153,871,060

Jorge F. Chavez*

26,087

4,342

3,668

3,258

$155,012,902

Roberto M. Gonzalez*

30,811

4,323

4,081

3,797

$62,272,997

Randy P. Romero

26,091

4,294

3,743

3,313

$75,264,198

Jeffrey Scott Lloyd

31,296

4,276

4,318

4,179

$34,199,413

William Hartack

21,535

4,272

3,370

2,871

$26,466,758

Ray Sibille

36,859

4,264

4,346

4,367

$68,880,807

Robert Dean Williams*

28,106

4,254

3,733

3,523

$30,830,788

Joe Bravo*

22,431

4,161

3,624

3,073

$104,979,582

Nick Santagata*

36,918

4,124

4,155

4,192

$73,764,091

T. D. Houghton*

24,055

4,110

3,589

3,097

$37,246,777

Jose A. Santos

25,919

4,083

3,657

3,588

$187,242,605

Avelino Gomez

17,028

4,081

2,947

2,405

$11,777,297

Shane J. Sellers

23,778

4,069

3,504

2,977

$122,431,794

Randall A. Meier*

32,589

4,057

3,918

3,804

$57,421,001

Hugo Dittfach

33,905

4,000

4,092

6,113

$13,506,052

Michael Francis Rowland

26,712

3,997

3,666

3,243

$28,637,267

Philip Grove

26,901

3,991

3,761

3,580

$16,511,842

Robert E. Colton*

24,966

3,986

3,565

3,401

$40,927,715

Patrick A. Valenzuela*

25,738

3,981

3,921

3,322

$149,917,105

John R. Velazquez*

22,163

3,946

3,267

2,888

$202,990,552

Stewart Elliott*

25,206

3,925

3,327

3,135

$66,248,115

Jose Luis Flores*

22,353

3,843

3,364

2,918

$39,122,434

Leslie Hulet

25,286

3,816

3,589

3,293

$17,847,169

D. E. Whited

28,036

3,795

3,602

3,374

$25,206,767

Ted Atkinson

23,661

3,795

3,300

2,913

$17,449,360

Robby Albarado*

23,175

3,794

3,479

3,179

$138,210,986

Scott A. Stevens*

26,957

3,793

3,695

3,642

$28,924,292

Steve J. Bourque*

25,506

3,789

3,309

3,098

$30,470,545

Ralph Neves

25,334

3,772

3,547

3,352

$13,786,239

Leroy Moyers

26,040

3,770

3,529

3,190

$21,491,585

R. L. Baird

24,822

3,749

3,281

2,912

$12,592,611

Julie A. Krone

21,411

3,704

3,261

2,913

$90,125,644

Dan Weiler

27,706

3,694

3,362

3,213

$12,225,344

Ron D. Hansen

20,430

3,693

3,204

2,839

$42,635,184

Steve Neff

27,951

3,685

3,384

3,299

$15,526,196

Charles C. Lopez*

24,901

3,673

3,255

3,033

$71,957,132

Joseph Rocco*

27,446

3,665

3,587

3,537

$53,603,162

Chris Loseth

26,055

3,665

3,429

3,126

$32,631,328

Eibar Coa*

19,082

3,630

2,990

2,476

$108,187,886

Robert Ussery

20,593

3,611

3,941

2,427

$22,714,074

Jim Paul Powell

27,455

3,587

3,400

3,403

$15,997,565

Fernando Toro

27,496

3,555

3,507

3,484

$56,299,765

Don Pierce

28,740

3,546

3,655

3,617

$39,018,422

Vincent Bracciale, Jr.

20,291

3,545

3,003

2,712

$37,817,349

Jose C. Ferrer*

24,239

3,537

3,227

2,967

$55,673,413

William J. Passmore

29,409

3,531

3,143

2,994

$22,992,805

Harry Vega*

19,560

3,512

2,855

2,692

$46,276,140

Rene R. Douglas*

22,666

3,493

3,321

2,975

$97,803,894

Perry Compton*

25,412

3,481

3,252

2,957

$27,513,932

Chris W. Antley

19,723

3,480

2,881

2,494

$92,261,894

John Lively

26,134

3,468

3,033

3,073

$32,573,504

Carlos H. Silva*

28,327

3,464

3,334

3,366

$58,737,818

Anthony R. Dlugopolski

25,428

3,453

3,146

2,900

$10,582,479

Buck Thornburg

27,258

3,433

3,208

3,163

$22,876,221

Jorge Enrique Tejeira

21,987

3,419

3,050

2,826

$28,146,870

Gary Baze*

22,953

3,411

3,028

2,843

$28,211,715

Ramon A. Dominguez*

14,617

3,401

2,640

2,193

$102,157,328

Josiah Francis Hampshire, Jr.*

19,718

3,394

2,828

2,689

$32,071,647

Robbie G. Davis

24,260

3,382

3,365

3,108

$115,732,836

Scott Spieth*

21,131

3,373

3,004

2,803

$33,449,015

Donald R. Pettinger*

20,917

3,369

2,835

2,726

$45,418,880

Curt C. Bourque*

22,747

3,367

2,821

2,622

$41,901,157

John E. Burton

20,511

3,336

2,816

2,821

$7,782,602

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Denotes Active

After seeing this list, I had to do a jockey ranking. Having a top 10 list of the all-time best jockeys is too difficult though, so I decided to do one on active riders. Despite what some think of Desormeaux, he absolutely has to be in every top 10 list. He has found a fountain of youth in the past couple years and is riding better than he ever has.

A little criteria here. I ranked my choices on how good each rider is currently, not by their past accomplishments. If it were based the latter, Desormeaux, Russell Baze and Edgar Prado would be at the top of the list. In any event, this is obviously a subjective ranking. I'm curious to see how everyone else ranks them.

To add a little more fun to it, I have also included my top 5 most underrated jockeys.

Top 10 Active Jockeys

1. Garrett Gomez - Reigning Eclipse Award winner is in a class by himself right now. If I needed to win one race, I'd choose him every time

2. Rafael Bejarano - Moving to California has made him unstoppable

3. John Velazquez - As good as there is on the East Coast

4. Kent Desormeaux - Hooking up with Mott has given him new life. Oh, and Big Brown didn't hurt either.

5. Russell Baze - Approaching 50 and still the king

6. Ramon Dominguez - Winning at an incredible 27% clip this year

7. Edgar Prado - Sill wins them when they count

8. Javier Castellano - Too good to be on the most underrated list, but doesn't get the press he deserves

9. Julien Leparoux - Still only a kid, but belongs with these

10. (Tie) Shaun Bridgmohan/Robby Albarado - Can't go wrong with either

 

Top 5 Most Underrrated  Jockeys

1. Jamie Theriot - My personal favorite. All he does is ride longshot winners. An up and coming star

2. Elvis Trujillo - He owns Florida

3. Eibar Coa - Not sure if he fits in as "underrated," but he sure wins a lot without getting any press

4. Rajiv Maragh - Another rising star. He's already among the leaders, but nobody knows it

5. Miguel Mena - Another good, young rider who always seems to steal big wins

 

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