The Super Bowl, The Premier League, and The NBA all take the headlines when it comes to major sports stories, but there are plenty of other sports out there deserving of media coverage. One such sport, which is incredibly well-watched and followed is horse racing.
For whatever reason the sport never seems to get the recognition or coverage it deserves, despite having hundreds of millions of fans across the globe. Perhaps the skill and drama of the sport are lost amidst the talk of the Kentucky derby odds and the outside bets for the Grand National.
In this article, we’re turning the tables and giving horse racing the recognition that it rightly deserves by honoring 5 of the best American jockeys including 2 current jockeys and 3 all-time greats. Read on to find out who we’ve picked in our Top 5.
Tyler Gaffalione
Sure, we could have gone to the global rankings and simply picked the top American jockeys of the moment but we didn’t want to do that. Because that would have meant not including 29-year-old Davie, Florida native Tyler Gaffalione.
Since being voted the Eclipse Award U.S. Champion Apprentice Jockey in 2015 Gaffalione has won on average 200 races a year. Most notably he won the U.S. Triple Crown Series as well as winning seven races on a single Gulfstream Park racecard back in 2017.
Gaffalione might currently find himself lower down in the rankings than some of his fellow countrymen but he’ll shoot back up in no time.
Bill Shoemaker
Born in 1931 in Fabens, Texas William Shoemaker began his career as a jockey in his teens, winning the first of his staggering 8,833 career victories in April 1949 when he rode Shafter V to victory at Golden Gate Fields.
If we were to list all of Shoemaker’s career highs there wouldn’t be any room left to discuss any other jockeys, so we’ll just say that he won a LOT and we mean a LOT of races including eleven Triple Crown races.
(Nice Guys Finish First is a must-watch for horse racing fans.)
Irad Ortiz Jr.
Born in Trujillo, Puerto Rico 31-year-old Irad Ortiz Jr is the highest-ranked American in the global rankings. Ortiz made his name when he was 20 after Kiaran McLaughlin put him on the filly Questing in an allowance race.
The filly won and Ortiz was retained for the Coaching Club American Oaks which he won, claiming his first Grade 1 victory. Since then Ortiz has never looked back, amassing 3,000+ career wins and scooping the 2018 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey.
If the next entry in this list is anything to go by, then Irad Ortiz Jr still has a whole lot of time left to increase his career wins tally.
Perry Wayne Ouzts
69-year-old Ouzts was born in Lepanto, Arkansas, and won his first professional race in 1973 at Beulah Park. Throughout his career, Ouzts enjoyed the most success at River Downs in Cincinnati where he won 35 meet titles.
Over the course of his long and storied career, Ouzts finished with 7,242 career wins. What’s most interesting about Ouzt’s career is that his 7,000th career win came as recently as 2018 when he was the young and nimble age of 64!
(The 64-year-old Perry Ouzts makes history with his 7,000th career win.)
Pat Day
Wasn’t that a song by Daniel Powter? Oh no, sorry we’re getting confused… Pat Day if Brush, Colorado is one of the most respected and revered jockeys in American horse racing history. A patient rider with gentle hands, Day kept a cool head and prevailed in 8,803 career wins.
His first of which came on a horse called Forblunged on July 29, 1973. Over the course of his career, such was Day’s skill that he would win 1 in 5 of every race that he competed in. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991 and to this day holds the record for the most prize money won in a career – an estimated $297,934,732.
It’s not a bad old haul from a career!
