Louisiana jockeys named fourth and seventh most successful for Thoroughbred Racing

• Kent J. Desormeaux has been named the fourth most successful US born jockey for Thoroughbred horse racing, Eddie J. Delahoussaye is seventh.
• Pat Day is first, whilst William “Bill” Shoemaker is second.
• Total earnings, win rates, and top-three rates were taken into consideration.

New research has revealed the most successful US born horseracing jockeys, with Pat Day taking the top spot.

The study, conducted by online horse racing betting operator TwinSpires, analyzed a list of US born jockeys from Equibase. A ranking was then created using several factors to judge the performance of each jockey, including total earnings, total starts, and total wins.

Pat Day, from Colorado, is first on the list, with a final score of 95.80. Day has the highest top-three rate in the study at 53%, coming third or higher 21,350 times out of 40,014 races. He also ranks second highest for total earnings out of all the jockeys in the research, accumulating $297,914,839 in his career.

Second is Bill Shoemaker, from Texas, with a final score of 89.85. Shoemaker has the highest number of total wins of all jockeys examined at 8,833; the Texan jockey also matches Pat Day for the highest win rate in the study at 22%.

Massachusetts born Chris J. McCarron lands third, with a final score of 83.41. McCarron has the second-highest win rate in the research at 21% and the third-highest top-three rate of every jockey examined at 51%.

Kent J. Desormeaux, of Louisiana, ranks fourth, with a final score of 73. He has the fourth-highest total earnings in the study at $294,187,358 and is sixth for a top-three rating of 48%.

Mario G. Pino, born in Delaware, is fifth, with a final score of 70.51. Pino has the third-highest number of total starts out of every jockey included in the research at 43,756.

Texan jockey Jerry D. Bailey is sixth, with a final score of 69.97. Bailey has the third-highest total earnings in the study at $296,113,529.

Eddie J. Delahoussaye, from Louisiana, is seventh, with a final score of 67.44. Delahoussaye is sixth for jockeys examined who landed among the top three finishers, running third or higher in 17,646 out of 39,900 starts.

Joe Bravo, of New Jersey, ranks eighth, with a final score of 65.73. Bravo is fifth out of the jockeys included for overall win rate, winning 18% of his races.

Mike E. Smith, born in New Mexico, comes in ninth, with a final score of 64.90. Smith is first for total earnings in the study, at $349,267,456, an increase of over 4600% compared to Darrel Madden, who ranks last in this category.

In tenth place is Arkansas-born jockey Perry Wayne Ouzts, with a final score of 63.80. Ouzts has the highest number of races ran of all jockeys examined at 53,007.

Contact: Erin Ward, erin.ward@journoresearch.org