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 |
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* 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