DeShawn Parker to receive 2021 Mike Venezia Memorial Award
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – DeShawn Parker has been named the winner of the Mike Venezia Memorial Award, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday.
Parker received the majority of votes from more than 350 ballots cast by professional jockeys at North American tracks, NYRA said in a press release. Other nominated riders were Junior Alvarado, Julien Leparoux, Scott Stevens, and Gerard Melancon.
Parker, currently based at Indiana Grand, will be recognized in a special ceremony to be held at Saratoga on Sept. 2.
Created in 1989, the Mike Venezia Memorial Award is awarded to a jockey who displays the extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship that personified Venezia, who died as the result of injuries suffered in a spill at Belmont Park in 1988.
“It’s an honor just to be on the ballot for this award,” Parker said in the press release. “It’s extra special that my fellow riders are the ones who made the selection. I take a lot of pride in being a role model both on and off the track. I will cherish this award.”
Earlier this year, Parker was recognized by his peers with the George Woolf Award, which recognizes riders whose careers and personal character garner esteem for the individual and the sport for Thoroughbred racing. That award is given out by Santa Anita Park.
Parker, 50, has won 5,900 career races, according to Equibase, which ranks him 21st all time in North America. He was the leading rider in 2010 with 377 wins and 2011 with 400 wins. Parker, who for two decades was the dominant rider at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia, has been leading rider at Indiana Grand (2020) and Sam Houston (2015).
Parker’s accolades have come in a year in which he lost his father, Daryl, a longtime steward in Ohio, to cancer.
“My idol, my best friend, and a great father!” Parker told NYRA. “He meant so much to my life and my career. I can only hope to be as great as he was.”