Anna Rose ‘Rosie’ Napravnik shines in the Kentucky Derby, setting a record by finishing ninth
Women perhaps have always been a subtle part of the Kentucky Derby but not this time. The Run for the Roses may not have a women claim a winning position as a jockey or trainer but a female jockey made her way to the news by finishing at ninth position this
time.
The 137th running of the Kentucky Derby did have Kathleen O’ Connell who trained Watch Me Go. Similarly there was another female trainer, Katherine Ritvo, who trains Mucho Macho Man.
Katherine Ritvo has been facing heart problems over the past seven years. Despite the illness, she has tried her level best to help her horse perform well. Mucho Macho Man came third in the Kentucky Derby.
Anna Rose “Rosie” Napravnik is the sixth jockey to make her way to the Kentucky Derby. The jockey tried to give her best shot at the famous Kentucky Derby while she was aboard Pants On Fire.
Pants On Fire came ninth. By doing so she can now boast about a title no female jockey has had in the Kentucky Derby.
She is now the highest finishing woman jockey in the Derby’s history. Patti Cooksey in 1984 and Julie Krone in 1995 both tried and managed to finish at eleventh positions and this is the highest position, female jockeys have been able to attain before Rosie
Napravnik.
The jockey who has been giving numerous interviews humbly said in an interview, “I've said a million times, the first and second generations (of women jockeys) have really opened the doors for me, So, we continue to have more and more talented female riders.
I'm hoping to be back here once again".
The American Thoroughbred jockey is a farmer’s daughter. Being a daughter of a farmer, she spent her entire life around horses and developed a likeness for them.
She got her jockey license in 2005 and within a year she was a runner-up for the esteemed Eclipse Award for her services as a jockey. Her earnings that year compounded to $6,395,075, getting the 31st position in the National earnings title.
She earned 300 victories out of 1,465 mounts. This is a huge accomplishment for a woman of her age.
A newspaper gave her the title of, “She’s a Riding Giant”. The news paper also wrote, “In less than a year, Napravnik has harnessed a running current of poise, natural talent and a voracious appetite for hard work to become the most successful female jockey
in the country. Since winning on her very first mount, a horse named Ringofdiamonds last June at Pimlico, Napravnik went from an unknown to the seventh-winningest jockey in the United States, 24th in earnings and the only female jockey in the nation's top
100”.
The 23-year-old has had four major injuries in her short career. The two most notable injuries include her sustaining a collarbone fracture at Laurel in 2005. Later, in 2007, her mount tumbled and the jockey suffered three compression fractures in the thoracic
region of her back.
In spite of sustaining such life threatening injuries she did not give up her devotion for the sport and in October 2007 she collected her 1000th win of her career. She managed to do so while she was holding the reins of Laughing Charlie in Delaware
Park’s fourth race.
She is also the first female jockey to win the Louisiana Derby while riding Pants On Fire.
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