Velazquez first jockey to hit $500 million earnings mark
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The fantastic week that Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez had in Saratoga during the five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival helped him become the first rider in North America to surpass the $500 million mark in career earnings.
Velazquez, 53, was not as impressed as the number suggests he should. Following Thursday’s card at Aqueduct – where he won the first two races – Velazquez had amassed $500,310,277 in career earnings, according to Equibase. Javier Castellano is second in purse earnings with $408.2 million
“You’ve been covering me for how long?” Velazquez said. “It’s impressive to you guys. I don’t think about numbers. I’m happy and blessed to be here and doing things I like to do and winning race but numbers are numbers. One day when I retire, I’ll look back and say you know what, I did very good.”
Velazquez, according to Equibase, has won 6,714 races. He is 81 wins behind Jorge Velasquez for 10th all-time.
During the five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga, Velazquez won nine races, six of which were stakes, including the Grade 1 Jaipur on Ag Bullet, the Grade 1 New York on She Feels Pretty, and the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on Dorth Vader.
She Feels Pretty, trained by Cherie DeVaux, has developed into the top female turf horse in the country. She has won four consecutive graded stakes and is 7 for 10 overall.
“She ran on a racetrack that she did not like at all and she still showed up. You got to give it to her,” Velazquez said, referring to her New York Stakes win. “But good horses overcome a lot of things and she did. She’s special.”
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