Velazquez to Ride Full-Time at Santa Anita This Winter

For the first time in his illustrious 32-year career, Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez will ride full-time this winter at Santa Anita Park, beginning on the track's opening day Dec. 26.

A 50-year-old native of Puerto Rico, Velazquez is North America's all-time leading jockey by purse money won with his mounts collecting more than $446 million from his 6,357 wins. A four-time winner of the Kentucky Derby (G1), including this year's running with Medina Spirit , Velazquez has won 18 Breeders' Cup races, including the 2020 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) with Authentic  .

"We're looking to winter out there instead of going to Florida; we're looking for some sort of change," said the rider's agent, Ron Anderson, himself a Southern California native. "Johnny's at a point, we're looking for good horses, graded stakes and the like … He'll be in and out (of town) a little bit, but something different. I think he's very excited about being there. His wife Leona went out and got a place over the weekend.

"He'll be riding for everybody: Bob Baffert, Doug O'Neill, Richie Baltas, Dick Mandella, everybody. I'll piece that together as we go. The first condition book came out (Monday) and I've already got a few guys that are knocking on the door."

Velazquez, a winner of Santa Anita's 2009 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, also notched a significant milestone at Santa Anita when he passed retired Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey with his 661st graded stakes winner aboard the Baffert-trained Bast  in the 2019 Chandelier Stakes (G1)—making him racing's all-time leading graded stakes-winning jockey. 

Velazquez will be joining a star-studded riding colony headed by the likes of Flavien Prat, Juan Hernandez, Umberto Rispoli, Joe Bravo, Abel Cedillo, and fellow Hall of Famers Kent Desormeaux, Victor Espinoza, and Mike Smith.

Anderson also noted that although Velazquez will be based at Santa Anita through March, he will also fly out of town to ride in major stakes such as the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park Jan. 29 and other races nationally and internationally.

A dominant force on the East Coast for many years, Velazquez, who broke his maiden in Puerto Rico on Jan. 3, 1990, began riding full-time in New York later that year and was soon befriended by legendary Puerto Rican Hall of Famer Angel Cordero Jr., who served as an invaluable mentor to Velazquez.

When Cordero retired from the saddle, he became Velazquez's agent in 1998. The results were instantaneous and they were remarkable, as Velazquez, who rode "first-call" for top trainer Todd Pletcher, went on to become Saratoga Race Course's all-time leading jockey and became America's leading rider by money won in 2004 and 2005, winning an Eclipse Award as outstanding jockey in both years as well.

Although he enjoyed tremendous success with Cordero, Velazquez shifted gears in late 2019, as he hired superstar agent Anderson, who at the time was working for Joel Rosario, who he continues to represent.

Velazquez also serves as chairman of the board of the Jockeys' Guild and as a board member of the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.

"He's one of the greatest guys ever," said Anderson. "What he does for the Jockeys' Guild and all the time he puts in, the meetings and following up with individual riders through a lot of situations … He's just different. He's really, really a special person at the end of the day. He's positive, he's classy, he's considerate, he's kind to everybody.

"As a rider, his numbers and his records speak for themselves. He's the number one leading rider of all-time. You'll see, he's just a special person."