Who Is The Top Jockey?

jshandler — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:07:00 GMT

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

Breeders Cup Chat : Edgar Prado

Who Is The Top Jockey?