jockey

Hannah Leahey and McKenna Anderson both scored 16 wins during this summer's meet at Horseshoe Indianapolis to share the title for the Juan Saez Leading Apprentice award. "It's really cool and nice to get rewarded from all the hard work that we both put in throughout the year," said Anderson. "We have worked with some really hard-working people here and we thank them for giving us this opportunity to ride." Leahey added, "It's such an achievement. McKenna and I have been riding together from the beginning. It's a great feeling...

Jockey Ken Shino, who won 2,542 races during a career that began in 1987, has been sentenced to six years in prison after a jury found that he struck and injured a pedestrian in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 2021 and then left the scene of the accident. According to the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record, the jury deliberated for about an hour before finding Shino, 56, who listed Des Moines, Iowa as his address, guilty of leaving the scene of an accident involving personal injury or death, and deliberated for another hour...

Veteran jockey Frank Alvarado, a mainstay in Northern California throughout the 21st century, picked up his 4,000th career victory in Race 2 on Sunday at Golden Gate Fields aboard five-year-old mare Shout It Out (Boisterous). 54-year-old Alvarado had to wait out a photo finish before giving an exuberant fist pump when the order of finish was posted. He was greeted in the winner's circle post-race by family, friends, racing officials, and fellow members of the Golden Gate riding colony. Alvarado's mounts have accrued $87.8 million throughout a long and successful...

Alfredo Luevano, 53, died early Friday morning in a training incident at Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, California, the track said in a press release late Friday evening. Luevano was exercising a filly on the backstretch when the incident occurred. He was on the ground when assistance first arrived, while the filly ran off under her power. As of now, there have been no eyewitness accounts with any precise details on the incident. Luevano was rushed to Long Beach Memorial, where he was pronounced deceased. The horse, a 2-year-old...

Veteran jockey Corey Lanerie posted the 5,000th victory of his riding career Wednesday at Keeneland, coming with a patented move up the fence to guide the Chris Hartman-trained I Feel The Need (Keen Ice) in race three. He is the 38th jockey in history and is the 12th winningest among active riders behind the ageless Perry Ouzts. "It's beautiful," he said. "I have been waiting a long time and it seems like I got right on it and I could never get over the hump, but today we got over...

When Penn National shut down for a one-month planned break Sept. 23, Tyler Conner, the track's third-leading rider this year in both wins and earnings, wasn't sure what he'd do to keep his income flowing. Yet the 30-year-old jockey, who is soft-spoken but highly driven, managed to build enough out-of-town business to the point where he has just completed a demanding six-day run of riding at six different tracks in the Northeast and Canada. His whirlwind tour included more than 1,800 miles of driving, nearly all of which he accomplished...

Jockey Tyler Baze, the Eclipse-winning outstanding apprentice jockey of 2000 who now sports 2,889 wins, returned from a major health scare with his first visit to the winner's circle since Apr. 14 at Oaklawn Park. "I needed it," Baze told the Santa Anita notes team Friday morning at Clocker's Corner. "It took a lot for me to get to this point after being in the hospital and almost dying." Baze was hospitalized for about two weeks in Arkansas after that last win at Oaklawn with severe pain as doctors sought...

Frankie Dettori attended a photo call in London on Thursday morning, posing underneath a banner saying 'Thank You Frankie' to mark his forthcoming final ride in Britain at QIPCO British Champions Day on October 21. But while this was taking place, the Racing Post published a story online with quotes from the jockey stating that his long-held retirement plans are off and that he will ride next year in America, basing himself at Santa Anita.  Dettori's stated plan had been to ride at some of the major international meetings through...

Eighteen-year-old jockey Axel Concepcion, who is currently Maryland's top apprentice and is on the cusp of a planned move to Kentucky that could launch him into contention for a rookie rider Eclipse Award, has again been suspended 30 days by the Delaware Park stewards for "careless riding" that caused a rival horse to crash to the track. "This is Apprentice Jockey Axel Concepcion's second incident within a week of causing interference that resulted in a horse falling and a rider to be unseated," stated the Oct. 6  stewards' ruling. Delaware...

Jockey Paco Lopez, who pulled up his mount Ridin With Biden (Constitution) a few steps before the finish of last Saturday's GIII Greenwood Cup S. at Parx, likely costing the horse a second-place finish, was handed a 30-day suspension Thursday by the stewards at Parx. In ruling, the stewards wrote that the suspension was "for failure to give his best effort and failure to use the proper diligence in Race 7 on September 23, 2023 while astride the horse Ridin With Biden..." The suspension began Thursday and will conclude on...

Jessica Pyfer, the 2021 Eclipse Award Outstanding Apprentice Jockey, has retired as a jockey and will join XBTV/Santa Anita Park as a full-time racing analyst, she announced on the social media platform X. "After an amazing three years as a Jockey, I am officially transitioning my career and have accepted a full time position with XBTV/Santa Anita Park as a Racing Analyst and couldn't be more excited to continue working in this role," she said in a post. "I am so thankful for the times I have had in the...

The chief state steward at Mountaineer Park, Jim O'Brien, on Friday defended his board's seemingly light $100 penalization of jockey Jose A. Leon after other licensees who were on horseback during training hours at the West Virginia track Sept. 10 testified that the 24-year-old rider dismounted from an unruly horse and struck it across the face with his whip. "He was wrong, but I guess he let his anger get the best of him, and he hit the horse in the face," O'Brien told TDN. O'Brien added that he and...