Migliore wins Woolf Award

Jockey Richard Migliore, the winner of eight riding titles at Aqueduct in the 1980s and 1990s and a mainstay in Southern California for the last 16 months, won the 2008 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, Santa Anita racetrack announced on Saturday.

A ceremony in honor of Migliore will be held at Santa Anita on March 30.

The award is voted on by jockeys nationwide, recognizing accomplishments and personal character. Migliore, 43, outpolled Roberto Gonzalez, Aaron Gryder, Randall Meier, and Mario Pino.

A winner of more than 4,000 races, Migliore has won such Grade 1 races as the 2007 Kilroe Mile on Kip Deville, the 2007 Norfolk on Dixie Chatter, and the 2007 Pacific Classic on Student Council.

Migliore won the Eclipse Award as the nations top apprentice of 1981.

The Woolf award, presented annually since 1950, is named in honor of the famous jockey from the 1930s and 1940s. Woolf, who died of injuries suffered in a spill at Santa Anita in 1946, rode Seabiscuit to a win in the 1938 Hollywood Gold Cup and to victories in match races at Del Mar and Pimlico in 1938.