Kentucky Derby 2023: Meet the jockeys racing in 149th Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs
Eighteen jockeys will try to find their way into the Winners Circle at Churchill Downs on Saturday in the 149th Kentucky Derby.
The field is down from 20 after a rash of scratches since Thursday left the Run for the Roses with just 19 horses. There are four former winners (Florent Geroux, Flavien Prat, Joel Rosario and John Velazquez), three newcomers (Gerardo Corrales, Kazushi Kimura, Jareth Loveberry) and 11 others hoping to bask in Derby glory for the first time after multiple attempts.
On Saturday morning it was announced Cyclone Mischief will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., originally set to ride favorite Forte before the horse scratched 10 hours before the Kentucky Derby. Cyclone Mischief was one of the also-eligibles now set to race after Practical Move scratched Thursday.
Planning on factoring a jockey into your Derby bets? Here's a look at this year's lineup:
Junior Alvarado
Kentucky Derby horse: Rocket Can
A native of Venezuela, Alvarado has enjoyed success throughout his career (win rate of 16%, win-place-show rate of 44%) and this year (winning percentage of 12%, WPS percentage of 34%). But that hasn't translated to Triple Crown races — yet. Alvarado's best Kentucky Derby showing is fourth in 2016 aboard Mohaymen. He also took fourth in the 2012 Preakness Stakes with Zetterholm.
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Rafael Bejarano
Kentucky Derby horse: King Russell
Bejarano is 0 for 12 all-time in the Kentucky Derby. His best finish was fourth with Papa Clem in 2009. He finished 14th on Happy Jack last year. King Russell, the final also-eligible for the Run for the Roses, and Bejarano are in the Derby after a late Thursday night scratch by Continuar.
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Javier Castellano
Kentucky Derby horse: Mage
A member of the Horse Racing Hall of Fame, Castellano ranks second all-time in earnings, set a single-season earnings record in 2015 and is one of just two jockeys in history to win four Eclipse Awards in a row. But Kentucky Derby glory has eluded him. This year marks his 16th attempt to win the Run for the Roses. His best finish is third (2018, Audible). Castellano does have two wins in the Preakness Stakes, though, with Bernardini (2006) and Cloud Computing (2017).
Gerardo Corrales
Kentucky Derby horse: Raise Cain
While this is Corrales' first run in the Derby, he's already taken a liking to events in the Bluegrass State. Last year he won the Kentucky Turf Cup (aboard Red Knight) and the Dueling Grounds Derby (aboard Kitodan), both of which are contested at Kentucky Downs in Franklin. Those marked the first two graded-stakes victories for Corrales, who started his jockey career in 2015. This year he's won 16% of the races he's entered and owns a win-place-show percentage of 45%, which matches his career rate. Corrales rode Raise Cain in his first three races as a 2-year-old, which included his maiden victory (Keeneland last October).
Manny Franco
Kentucky Derby horse: Hit Show
Franco is off to a stellar start this season. For his career, he's won 15% of the races he's started, with a win-place-show clip of 43%; in 2023, those percentages have jumped to 27% and 57%, respectively. This will be Franco's fifth Derby start, and his best finish was second with Tiz the Law in 2020. He has one Triple Crown victory: Months before their runner-up finish in the coronavirus-delayed Derby (run in September), Franco and Tiz the Law won the Belmont Stakes in June 2020.
Tyler Gaffalione
Kentucky Derby horse: Verifying
Gaffalione, a 28-year-old Floridian, will ride in his sixth Derby. His best finish in five prior appearances was seventh in 2019 with War of Will. That year, Gaffalione and War of Will were involved in one of the most notable finishes (and controversies) in Derby history. Maximum Security crossed the finish line first. But he was stripped of the victory and disqualified for interfering with War of Will, and Country House was declared the winner. Both Gaffalione and War of Will bounced back two weeks later to win the Preakness Stakes. Gaffalione won the Eclipse Award for most outstanding apprentice jockey during his rookie season in 2015.
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Florent Geroux
Kentucky Derby horse: Jace's Road
Geroux enters his seventh Derby seeking his second win in three years. Only this time, he hopes to cross the finish line first. His victory two years ago, aboard Mandaloun, came after the win was taken away from Medina Spirit, which tested positive for betamethasone. Last year, Geroux told The Courier Journal his 2021 "victory" felt hollow. "I'm just a lucky recipient," Geroux said. "We all wanted to cross the wire first, the excitement of the race and experience the winner's circle and the roses and have the public cheering for us." Connections exist for Geroux between this year and 2021: He's once again working with Brad Cox, who trained Mandaloun. Geroux and Jace's Road won't be a favorite to win the Derby. But neither was Mandaloun in 2021.
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James Graham
Kentucky Derby horse: Confidence Game
Graham and Confidence Game earned their spots in this year's Derby on the strength of their February victory in the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. This will be Graham's third Derby start and first since 2018. That year also was Graham's best finish in the Derby, as he placed eighth aboard Lone Sailor. A victory by Graham would make him the first jockey from Ireland to ever win the Derby.
Brian Hernandez Jr.
Kentucky Derby horse: Sun Thunder
Hernandez Jr. will vie for the Derby title for the fourth time in his career. He hopes this year goes better than the first three, in which his best effort was an eighth-place finish with McCraken in 2017. His most notable victory came in 2012, when he won the Breeders' Cup Classic aboard Fort Larned. He's won 37 of his 191 starts this season — a win rate of 19%. That outpaces his career winning percentage (14%) and is on pace to set a personal-best percentage for a single season. (He won 17% of his starts in his first season as a full-time jockey in 2004.)
Kazushi Kimura
Kentucky Derby horse: Mandarin Hero
A back-to-back recipient of Canada's Sovereign Award for most outstanding jockey in 2021 and 2022, Kimura enters his first Derby after he and Mandarin Hero finished second to Practical Move, a Derby contender who scratched Thursday, in the Santa Anita Derby last month. Kimura is coming off his highest-earning year to date ($7,717,654) and boasts 671 career victories across 3,936 starts.
Christophe Lemaire
Kentucky Derby horse: Derma Sotogake
A French jockey, Lemaire has spent almost his entire career overseas, competing in his home country, England, Australia and, most recently, Japan. In 2017, Lemarie became the first foreign-born jockey to be Japan's top jockey. The following year, he broke the country's single-season wins record, placing first 215 times. He captured the Japan Racing Association champion jockeys’ title five straight times (2017-21). Lemaire has won two major events on U.S. soil, both in 2012: the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (with Flotilla) and the Secretariat Stakes (aboard Bayrir). This will be Lemaire's second straight Derby appearance after he finished 13th with Crown Pride.
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Jareth Loveberry
Kentucky Derby horse: Two Phil's
After nearly 20 years as a jockey, Loveberry, a Michigan native, will ride in his first Kentucky Derby. While he lacks experience in the race, he doesn't lack confidence in his horse. After a win in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky, Loveberry said Two Phil's is "getting better with each start. ... It’s just very exciting to be partnered with a horse like this and a team that’s supported me." Loveberry has won 17% of the races he's entered in 2023, with a win-place-show rate of 42%.
Irad Ortiz Jr.
Kentucky Derby horse: Cyclone Mischief
The stars were aligned for Ortiz, whose best finish in six previous Derby appearances is fourth (Improbable, 2019), to win his first Derby when he was originally set to ride Forte. The winner of the Eclipse Award four times in the past five years is off to a blazing start in 2023, leading the nation in earnings and total victories. But now with Forte scratched Saturday morning, Ortiz will hop on one of the horses to get in the field due to the week's five scratches, longshot Cyclone Mischief.
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Jose Ortiz
Kentucky Derby horse: Kingsbarns
The younger brother of fellow Derby jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., Jose Ortiz is no stranger to big stages himself. He's won both the Preakness Stakes (2022, with Early Voting) and the Belmont Stakes (2017, aboard Tapwrit). Ortiz needs only a victory in the Run for the Roses to complete a personal Triple Crown. This year will be his eighth attempt at winning the Derby. His best finish came in 2018, when he placed second with Good Magic. It will be his first time aboard the Kingsbarns. Flavien Prat won the Louisiana Derby with Kingsbarns in March, but he'll ride Angel of Empire in the Kentucky Derby. Ortiz boats a 15% winning clip and a win-place-show rate of 49% this season.
Flavien Prat
Kentucky Derby horse: Angel of Empire
Prat, who will compete in his sixth Derby, is credited with one victory in the event. He was aboard Country House in 2019 and finished second, but they ascended to the top spot after Maximum Security was disqualified for interference. Prat is primed to win a second Derby this year, as Angel Empire has the third-most points on the leaderboard entering the Derby. Prat also won the Preakness Stakes (with Rombauer) in 2021 and has four victories in Breeders' Cup races. He has 49 wins in 232 starts (21%) this season, with a win-place-show rate of 57%.
Joel Rosario
Kentucky Derby horse: Disarm
Rosario will be in the gate for the 12th time in a Derby. He has one victory in the race when he won 10 years ago aboard Orb. Rosario also owns a pair of Belmont Stakes wins (2014 with Tonalist and 2019 with Sir Winston) and more than a dozen Breeders' Cup titles. He ranks fourth all-time in earnings and has finished among the top six in that category every year since 2009.
Luis Saez
Kentucky Derby horse: Tapit Trice
Saez is in the Kentucky Derby field for the 10th time. He doesn't own a win in the event but crossed the finish line first with Maximum Security before the victory was stripped away and given to Country House due to interference. Saez won the 2021 Belmont Stakes with Essential Quality. The year before, Saez and Essential Quality teamed up to win the Breeders' Cup Futurity and Juvenile races. Saez is second in earnings this season, and will partner with one of the favorites in this year's Derby: Tapit Trice, a Todd Pletcher-trained horse.
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John Velazquez
Kentucky Derby horse: Reincarnate
No one in this year's field has rosier memories of the Run for the Roses than Velazquez. He's won the Derby three times: 2011 (with Animal Kingdom), 2017 (with Always Dreaming) and 2020 (with Authentic). One more victory would make him just the fourth jockey to win four or more Derbys, joining Eddie Arcaro (five), Bill Hartack (five) and Bill Shoemaker (four).
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @RyanABlack.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Derby 2023: Jockeys in Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs
