Luzzi Wins Woolf Memorial Award

Mike Luzzi has been selected as the winner of the 2015 Santa Anita George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award through a nationwide vote of his peers. Presented annually by Santa Anita since 1950, the Woolf Award recognizes riders whose careers and personal character earn esteem for both the individual and sport of Thoroughbred racing. 

Winner of the 1989 Eclipse Award for Top Apprentice Jockey, the 45-year-old has enjoyed a lot of success riding in New York, Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic region. 

Luzzi, who has been sidelined since suffering a broken leg and fractured pelvis in a paddock accident at Aqueduct Nov. 2, won out over four other finalists. They were James Graham, Leslie Mawing, Corey Nakatani and the recently retired Rosie Napravnik. 

Luzzi’s biggest early stakes wins came aboard Timely Warning, trained by his grandfather, the legendary Buddy Raines, in the 1991 Maryland Million Classic and GI Brooklyn H. Luzzi also won New York’s Mike Venezia Memorial Jockey Award in 2001. 

With 26,540 career mounts, the Delaware native has won 3,420 races and earned $108,218,039. Luzzi lives in Floral Park, New York, with his wife and two children. His 16-year-old son Lane is preparing to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a jockey.