Mike Venezia Memorial Award for 2015 to Court
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Kentucky-based jockey Jon Court was announced as the 2015 recipient of the Mike Venezia Memorial Award, which will be presented Memorial Day at Belmont Park.
Established in 1989, the Mike Venezia Memorial Award is awarded to jockeys who exemplify extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship. It is named in honor of Mike Venezia, who died as a result of injuries he suffered in a spill in 1988 at Belmont. Previous winners include Bill Shoemaker, Angel Cordero, Jr., Jerry Bailey, Mike Smith, Gary Stevens, Richard Migliore, and Ramon Dominguez.
Court, 54, received the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 2007. At the age of 50, he captured the Arkansas Derby (gr. I) aboard Archarcharch for the second straight year after piloting Line of David to victory in 2010. He has twice finished among the top 25 jockeys in terms of earnings, first in 2005 and again in 2006.
He'll receive the award Monday, May 25 at Belmont, which will also host Big Apple Showcase Day, featuring six stakes races restricted to New York-breds led by the $200,000 Commentator for 3-year-olds and up at a mile.