Miguel Mena and Leading Jockeys at Churchill Downs
When you glance at the results from the Spring Meet at Churchill Downs, you will see the names over and over; Borel, Bridgmohan, Lenclud, Mena and Leparoux. It seems like every day they have at least one winner and some days two or three. Gamblers who are watching Churchill are finding out it pays to ride the hot jock.
On a recent Sunday just betting the horses with Miguel Mena and Shaun Bridgmohan in the saddle would have resulted in 5 winners. Mena had three and Bridgmohan two, in a total of eleven mounts between them. If you had bet $2 on each jockey in each race that they ran it would have cost you $22 with the five winners returning a total of $43.50, doubling your money. See how riding the hot hand can pay off.
Paying attention to which jockeys are ending up in the Winner’s Circle is very simple. Churchill Downs keeps stats on it’s website for the leading riders in each meet, as well as the top trainers and top horses. The Equibase Company keeps track of these statistics as well at their website and Equibase not only has them for Churchill but for every horse track across the country. Riders are ranked based on wins and earnings.
The leading jockey for the Spring Meet which began April 24th at Churchill Downs is Calvin Borel. The jockey who has won three out of the last four Kentucky Derby’s has won a total of 22 races so far this session. Borel not only leads riders in wins but he also is tops in earnings. His horses have collected $2.3 million dollars which is four times the amount of his closest competitor. The victory by Borel on board Super Saver in the 2010 Kentucky Derby helped boost his earnings with a purse of $1.5 million in that race alone.
Borel has a total of 22 victories this meet, with 9 second place finishes and 10 thirds. He has started a total of 78 races for a percentage of finishing in the money of 53%.
Even though Borel is one of the most popular jockeys at Churchill Downs, he does not lead this meet in mounts. That title goes to Miguel Mena who has already run over 100 races this spring at Churchill. He has 13 victories, 18 second place finishes and 14 thirds for an in the money percentage of 43%. He has earnings of close to a half million dollars so far which places him 8th in the standings.
Kent Desormeaux and Rafael Bejarano who do most of their riding at other tracks are second and third on the money list at Churchill. Both have total earnings of just over $700,000 thanks to mounts they had on the first weekend in May. They came to ride in races on Derby Day and on the day of the Kentucky Oaks; Desormeaux had four winners and Bejarano three.
The regular Churchill riders who have been winning regularly include; Shaun Bridgmohan, Frederic Lenclud and Julien Leparoux. Of the three, Leparoux has the best percentage of finishing first, second or third at just over 55%. This means that if you would bet on a Leparoux horse across the board, you have a 55% chance of cashing a ticket. Leparoux has 13 wins, 15 places and 13 shows in his 74 mounts.
There are many horse players who ignore the racing form and simply do their handicapping based on the rider. The odds are that the best jockeys are getting the best horses so you already have an advantage going into the gate. You also have the chance to hit an occasional long shot that you probably would have overlooked if you went only on past performances.
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