jockey

Jockey DeShawn Parker, who in 2010 became the first African American rider since 1895 to lead all American jockeys in races won, has been selected by a vote of jockeys nationwide as the winner of the 2021 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. Presented annually by Santa Anita since 1950, the Woolf Award can only be won once. It recognizes those riders whose careers and personal character garner esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred racing. A Cincinnati, Ohio native, Parker, 50, outpolled four other Woolf finalists, Alex Birzer,...

Champion jockey Oisin Murphy, who has been serving a three-month suspension, returns to the saddle at Lingfield on Friday. The two-time champion jockey and retained rider for Qatar Racing was banned by France Galop stewards following a positive test this past summer for cocaine metabolites. Throughout the investigation, Murphy denied taking cocaine. A France Galop hearing accepted Murphy's hair sample results and his testimony regarding unintentional environmental contamination. His three mounts over the Lingfield polytrack on Friday are: Saeed Manana and trainer James Tate's Rain Gauge (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) in...

The New York Racing Association updated COVID-19 health and safety protocols for jockeys competing at the Aqueduct Racetrack winter meet which runs through Sunday, Mar. 28. As of Mar. 1, out of town riders not established in the NYRA colony may ride at Aqueduct upon completion of two negative COVID-19 PCR tests within five days of race day. Incoming riders will be provided isolated jockey quarters. All COVID-19 testing must be performed in New York state. Prior to Mar. 1, Aqueduct Racetrack was closed to riders that were not considered...

Paul D'Arcy, who trained Indian Haven (GB) (Indian Ridge {Ire}) to win the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas in 2003, will saddle his final runner at Kempton on Wednesday. The soon-to-be 65-year-old will leg up John Egan on Knight of Kings (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) in the first race, a seven-furlong maiden over the all-weather. Egan was also aboard Indian Haven for his Classic score. A jockey prior to turning his hand to training, D'Arcy began training in 1993. "I've no regrets, I turn 65 in February and always planned to...

When Kelly Ryan, primary care sports medicine physician for Medstar Health and co-medical director for the Maryland Horsemen's Health Program, discusses with her peers in the sports medicine world her work attending to injured jockeys, she's often met with the sort of wide-eyed puzzlement usually reserved for rare finds. "Every single bad case that we have is almost one in a million--like no other sports medicine doctor has ever seen this type of injury before," Ryan said. "They're all very unique and every single one of them could be a...

Group 1-winning jockey Colm O'Donoghue won his trial on Monday, the Racing Post reported. O'Donoghue was acquitted on two counts of physical assault on his ex-partner Jill Macken in 2018. Carrick-on-Suir district court heard the case, where Judge Finn ruled O'Donoghue was innocent of the charges. The incidents were alleged to have occurred in O'Donoghue's home in County Tipperary in October of 2018 and at the Pillo hotel in November of that year prior to the couple's break up. Macken did not report the incidents to the authorities until February...

Grade I-winning jockey Kazushi Kimura, who was named the 2019 Eclipse Award Outstanding Apprentice Jockey, will spend the winter of 2020/21 riding primarily for Prince Sultan bin Mishal bin Abdulaziz in Saudi Arabia, he confirmed to the TDN on Sunday. "Yes," Kimura told the TDN regarding his Saudi Arabian posting. "I'm gonna ride in Saudi Arabia until the middle of March, then I will be back to Woodbine before the opening day." Kimura, who was also Canada's Outstanding Apprentice Jockey in 2018, celebrated four graded winners in 2020 led by...

A popular jockeys' room valet and former jockey, Luis Leon passed away peacefully Tuesday evening at age 90, according to his son David. He suffered a heart attack recently and succumbed to the effects of the COVID-19 virus while hospitalized. Leon is survived by his wife Juanita, a daughter Sylvia and four sons, Louis, Jr., David, Mike and Victor. Services are pending. Born Sept. 7, 1930 in Fresno, California, Leon became a contract rider with Rex Ellsworth in the 1950s and 60s. While working under Hall of Fame trainer Mesh...

Jockey Hollie Doyle, who won her first Group 1 race this season, was nominated for the 2020 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. The winner is voted on by the public on Dec. 20. If she wins, Doyle would join Sir Anthony McCoy as the second winner from the sphere of racing. Doyle was named the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year in November. She broke her own record for most winners in a calendar year by a female jockey with 117 in October and was fourth in the...

Jockey Hollie Doyle has been named The Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year for 2020. Doyle holds the record for most winners in a calendar year by a female jockey, and booted home her first Group 1 winner when Glen Shiel (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) won the G1 British Champions Sprint S. in October. The reinswoman was also successful at Royal Ascot with Scarlet Dragon (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}) earlier this year. "I am blown away to have won the Sunday Times Sportswoman of The Year award," said Doyle. "It's been...

Pat Smullen, Irish Champion Jockey nine times throughout his career, passed away on the evening of Sept.15 at St Vincent's Hopsital in Dublin, Ireland. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March of 2018, he was 43. Smullen began riding out as an apprentice for Tom Lacy, and made an immediate impact, being named champion apprentice both in 1995 and 1996. He also rode for Joanna Morgan and after serving his apprenticeship, Smullen rode for various other trainers, including John Oxx, and Tommy Stack before joining forces as first call rider for...

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith joins this week's TDN Writers' Room days before his bid for the GI Kentucky Derby aboard Honor A.P.