Luis Quinonez rides 4,000th winner

Jockey Luis Quinonez hit a milestone of 4,000 wins on Friday, when he guided Izeonpoint to a 22-1 upset in the fifth race at Oaklawn Park. The mare returned $47.40.

Quinonez is a 56-year-old native of Mexico who won the first race of his career on May 10, 1989, at Canterbury Park. The milestone win Friday came in last-to-first fashion, with Quinonez riding in the $7,500 claiming sprint for Martin Guzman and trainer Renay Borel.

“My daughter told me you can’t quit until you get 4,000,” Quinonez joked. “I feel good. The main thing is, I still enjoy doing it.”

Quinonez is based this winter at Oaklawn, where he is a past title winner. He’s won such prestigious races as the Oaklawn Handicap and the Azeri.

“I’ve been going to Oaklawn for 23, 24 years,” he said.

Quinonez also has five titles from Canterbury and is the second all-time leading rider at Remington Park. Quinonez is a member of the hall of fames at both Canterbury and Remington.

The win Friday improved his totals to 27,630 career Thoroughbred starts, with those mounts earning $81,270,191. Quinonez has one other career win and said the victory came in a Quarter Horse race at Canterbury.

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Quinonez has won graded stakes with Suddenbreakingnews, who took him to the Kentucky Derby; Wally’s Choice, in the 2004 Oklahoma Derby at Remington; Alternation in the 2012 Oaklawn Handicap; Gold Medal Dancer in the 2015 Azeri; and Shotgun Kowboy in the 2018 Lone Star Park Handicap. Quinonez also has won graded races with Bob’s Edge, Brownie Points, Maysville Slew, and She’s All In.

"I've had a chance to ride a lot of nice horses," he said.

Quinonez came to the United States to work alongside his uncle at the racetrack. He is the older brother of both jockey Alonso Quinonez, who is riding at Tampa Bay Downs, and Belen Quinonez, a retired jockey who is now developing young horses in Oklahoma.

Luis Quinonez worked his way up on the track, spending time as a groom and exercise rider before race riding. He also enjoys another side of the business.

“My wife’s got a broodmare, Kiss Me Chocolate,” he said. “We’ve got a baby that’s going to be a 2-year-old. We’ll get him broke in January, see how he does, maybe run him. He’s an Oklahoma-bred. We had Nautical Star. They bought him.”

Nautical Star, bred by Gedda Quinonez, is a Grade 2-placed runner who captured an allowance Dec. 16 at Oaklawn.

As for Quinonez, he will be back in the saddle Saturday at Oaklawn.

“As long as I feel good and am still healthy, we’ll see what happens,” he said.

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