Five jockeys named as finalists for Woolf Award

ARCADIA, Calif. – Kendrick Carmouche, James Graham, Brian Hernandez Jr., Juan Hernandez, and Alfredo Juarez Jr. are finalists for the 2025 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, Santa Anita announced on Monday.

The Woolf Award honors riders for achievements on the racetrack as well as personal character. The winner will be determined by a ballot of riders nationwide.

The five finalists represent jockeys currently riding throughout the nation.

Carmouche, 40, is based at Aqueduct. Through Sunday, the Louisiana native had 3,950 career wins, including 163 races in 2024.

Graham, who was born in Ireland, has ridden in the United States since 2002 and recorded his first winner in this country the following year. Based at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, Graham, 45, won 39 races in 2024 and has 3,050 wins in the United States through Sunday.

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Brian Hernandez Jr. is well known for winning the 2024 Kentucky Derby on Mystik Dan and is the regular rider of the brilliant 4-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna. Hernandez, 39, won the 2004 Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding apprentice jockey. Last year, Hernandez won 125 races. Currently active at Fair Grounds, he has won 2,646 races through Sunday.

Juan Hernandez, 32, is a fixture at Del Mar and Santa Anita, where he has been the dominant rider for the last two years. Hernandez began his career in Mexico City and rode in Northern California before relocating to Southern California in 2020. Hernandez won 189 races last year and has 2,763 wins in the United States through Sunday.

Alfredo Juarez Jr. has been among the leading riders in New Mexico for the last decade, amassing riding titles at the state’s five tracks. Juarez, 43, is currently riding at Sunland Park, near El Paso. In 2024, Juarez won 98 races. He had 3,471 wins in the United States through Sunday.

The Woolf Award is named in honor of George Woolf, who rode Seabiscuit to a win in a famous 1938 match race against War Admiral. Woolf died as a result of injuries sustained in a spill at Santa Anita in 1946. The Woolf Award was first presented in 1950 and can be won once.

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