Lifted in part by victories in the Breeders' Cup World Championships, jockeys Ramon Dominguez and Rosie Napravnik have each registered record-breaking seasons in the irons.
With $23,739,189 in earnings through Nov. 11, Dominguez has surpassed jockey Jerry Bailey for the single-season record for seasonal North American earnings by a rider. Bailey set his top seasonal earnings mark in 2003 when his North American mounts secured $23,354,960 in purse earnings.
Dominguez picked up his most lucrative victory of the season when he guided Little Mike to an upset victory in the $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf (gr. IT) Nov. 3 at Santa Anita Park. Dominguez, the reigning two-time Eclipse Award winner as outstanding rider, has registered 56 stakes wins and 25 graded stakes wins so far this season.
Dominguez also could surpass John Velazquez's mark of $24,414,923—the most single-season earnings by a North American-based jockey when purse earnings throughout the world are counted. Velazquez's mark includes his victory aboard Roses in May in the $6 million Dubai World Cup (UAE-I).
Paced by her victory on Shanghai Bobby in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) Nov. 3 at Santa Anita, Napravnik is the first female rider to surpass $10-million in single-season purse earnings. Through Nov. 11, her North American mounts had earned $11,317,930, a mark well-ahead of Julie Krone's long-standing seasonal record of $9,216,622 set in 1992.
This year Napravnik became the first woman to win the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I), guiding Believe You Can to victory in the $1 million race for 3-year-old fillies. She then became the second woman, joining Krone, to win a Breeders' Cup race on the flat.
Both Dominguez and Napravnik have fared well racing in New York this season, where already strong purses were enhanced by added money from the Resorts World Casino New York City at Aqueduct.
Shanghai Bobby and Rosie Napravnik
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