Prominent jockeys Rosie Napravnik and Calvin Borel will be honored Aug. 10 at the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame Banquet, to be held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
The Greater New Orleans Sports Selection Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, selects annual award winners in a variety of categories, in addition to selecting each year's Hall of Fame class and amateur athletes of the month. Overall, 26 individuals and two teams will be honored at the banquet. Additional honorees will be announced over the next two weeks.
Napravnik is being recognized as the professional athlete of the year for greater New Orleans, while Borel is being named the professional athlete of the year for the State of Louisiana.
Napravnik won 125 races at Fairgrounds Race Course & Slots in 2013 to finish as the leading rider at the course for the third straight year. Through July, she has won 174 races nationwide with total earnings of $8,142,640 in 2013.
She rode Mylute to a fifth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), the best-ever finish for a female jockey, and followed that up with a third-place effort in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I). The New Orleans resident then became the first female ever to ride in all of the Triple Crown races, finishing sixth at the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) aboard Unlimited Budget. Napravnik, 25, won her 1,500th race in 2013 and has been the subject of many national profiles, including one by 60 Minutes.
"I am honored to be recognized by the Allstate Sugar Bowl Greater New Orleans Hall of Fame as their most outstanding professional," Napravnik said in a release. "To be in such great company as Drew Brees, Danny Granger, Chris Paul, and Peyton Manning is humbling and such a great honor. There's no place I'd rather call home than the great city of New Orleans."
Borel scored his 5,000th victory March 7 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark, becoming the 26th North American jockey with 5,000 wins. Borel, 46, is a three-time Kentucky Derby winner.
Born in St. Martin Parish, La., he reached the highest echelons of racing with a fearless and aggressive riding style. Borel, who finished third in this year's Kentucky Derby aboard Revolutionary , was also elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in April.
