2020 Eclipse Awards: John Velazquez

In 2020, John Velazquez didn’t win the most races he’s ever won in a single year. He did, however, win some of the most important ones.

Velazquez won his third Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve and his first Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic – both aboard Authentic – and those wins, as well as three Grade 1 victories aboard the fantastic filly Gamine, helped earn him a spot as a finalist for his third Eclipse Award as North America’s top jockey.

When Velazquez won the Eclipse Award in 2004 and 2005, he won more than 300 races each year and led in purse money won. In 2020, Velazquez won 101 races from 662 mounts and finished fifth in purse money won with $15,420,515. He rode 601 fewer mounts than did Irad Ortiz Jr., who won 300 races and led all riders in purse money won.

Two weeks before his 49th birthday, Velazquez guided the 3-year-old Authentic to a gate-to-wire victory in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland, his first victory in that race in his 20th try. Two months earlier, Velazquez employed those same front-running tactics on Authentic to win the Kentucky Derby, upsetting heavily favored Tiz the Law.

:: Full list of 2020 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

So impressed by Velazquez’s ride on Authentic in the Derby, trainer Bob Baffert, said “that was won by Johnny.”

Baffert and Velazquez teamed up to win five Grade 1 races in 2020. Velazquez guided the 3-year-old filly Gamine to victories in the Longines Acorn, Longines Test, and Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

Velazquez won 20 stakes in 2020, 14 of which were graded.