John Velazquez has ridden in twelve editions of the Kentucky Derby. He won the 2011 Kentucky Derby aboard Animal Kingdom. He won the 2004 Kentucky Oaks with Ashado, who would win the Eclipse Award for top Three-Year-Old filly in 2004 and in 2005 won for Top Older Female.
Known as Johnny V around the racetrack, he attended a jockey school in his native Puerto Rico before coming to North America under the guidance of retired Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero. He began riding races in New York in March 1990, and is ranked amongst the leading jockeys on the circuit. He set a Saratoga record on Septmeber 3, 2001 when he won six races in one day.
Velazquez was awarded the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in 2004 and 2005. His only other Triple Crown win came in the 2007 Belmont Stakes with Rags to Riches, who was the first filly to win the Belmont since 1905. In September 2008, Velazquez won his 4,000th career race and in 2009 received the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award
John was named the leading rider in 2010 at Saratoga Race Course and serves as the Chairman on the Jockeys’ Guild Board of Directors.
Top mounts have included: Quality Road, Discreetly Mine, Life At Ten, A Little Warm, Eskendereya, Wait a While, English Channel, Roses in May, Spun Sugar, Bandini, and Flower Alley.
John Velazquez was born on November 24, 1971 and resides in West Hempstead, New York.
