Bravo voted Woolf Award winner

Joe Bravo, best known for his outsized success at Monmouth Park, where the New Jersey native earned the nickname “Jersey Joe,” on Thursday was announced by Santa Anita as this year’s winner of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award.

Bravo was selected by his fellow riders over four other finalists – Glenn Corbett, Julien Leparoux, Rodney Prescott, and Tim Thornton.

Because it is voted on by peers, the Woolf Award is considered one of the most prestigious awards a rider can win. It is given for accomplishments on and off the track, and can only be won once. It has been awarded annually since 1950. Bravo will be presented with the award March 27 at Santa Anita, where he is currently riding.

Bravo, 50, has won 5,530 races, including the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, to rank 24th all-time, just behind Mike Smith and in front of Javier Castellano, both Hall of Famers. His mounts have earned $192,746,080 in purses, 22nd all time, just behind Eddie Delahoussaye and in front of Ramon Dominguez, also both Hall of Famers.

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Bravo has had the bulk of his success at Monmouth Park, where he has been the leading rider 13 times. He has won the United Nations, Monmouth’s top race for older grass runners, five times, and owns one win in the prestigious Haskell for 3-year-olds. He also has won nine riding titles at the Meadowlands in New Jersey.

In addition to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff win aboard Blue Prize, whom he also rode to consecutive victories in the Spinster, Bravo has won such Grade 1 races as the Arkansas Derby with Danza, Beverly D. with Watsdachances, Delaware Handicap on Sheer Drama, First Lady with Zipessa, Forego on A.P. Indian, Joe Hirsch Turf Classic aboard Big Blue Kitten, Stephen Foster with Bradester, and the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on Little Mike.

“It really is an honor to now be part of this circle of riders, joining all of these guys that I grew up with or grew up underneath, I’ll put it like that,” Bravo said in a press release put out by Santa Anita. “I was lucky enough to win the East Coast version of the Woolf Award, the Mike Venezia Award, in 2018, and now to be honored here on the West Coast, wow, you don’t what an honor this is.”

Woolf, a Hall of Fame rider, was killed in an accident at Santa Anita in 1946 at age 35. His major victories included the 1938 Pimlico Special match race in which Seabiscuit defeated Triple Crown winner War Admiral, and the inaugural Santa Anita Handicap in 1935 on Azucar. There is a statue of Woolf in the paddock gardens at Santa Anita, and replica of that bronze will be presented to Bravo.