Emotion behind Stevens' Woolf award 'more than I can describe'
In an emotional moment, veteran jockey Scott Stevens was on Sunday presented with the 2019 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in a Winner’s Circle ceremony following the sixth race at Santa Anita Park.
A winner of more than 4,800 races in a career that has spanned 43 years, Stevens was joined by family, friends and colleagues, including the 1996 Woolf Award winner, retired Hall of Famer Gary Stevens, as the pair became the first brotherly tandem to win the prestigious award in its 70-year history.
The winner via a vote of jockeys nationwide, Stevens placed first among a list of five finalists that included Joe Bravo, Kerwin Clark, John Davila, Jr. and Julien Leparoux.
“I know I was there when Gary won, but honestly, it’s been so long ago, I don’t remember,” said Scott Stevens. “This award is so special and I was honored just to be nominated. When you think about all the great riders and the great people that have won it and to be selected by a vote of your peers . . . It’s really more than I can describe.”
Born Oct. 6, 1960, in Caldwell, Idaho, Stevens is the son of a former trainer, Ron, and rodeo queen, Barbara. Steeped in the ways of the horse-world from infancy, Stevens, who has more than 32,400 career mounts, broke his maiden on May 30, 1976 at Les Bois Park in Boise, at the age of 15.
A member of both the Idaho and Canterbury Park halls of fame, Stevens has been a helpful, guiding influence to scores of young jockeys for decades.
"We’re super proud he has mentored myself and so many of these riders behind me," Gary Stevens said Sunday. "He deserved this long before I did. I’m so proud."
"I was honored to be nominated, and then to win," Added Scott Stevens. "Gary is supposed to be the speaker of the family and he got choked up, so it says a lot for the way we were brought up by our mom and dad. They were not here today, but we know they are with us. They’re our biggest, fans and I’m just so honored."
A nine-time leading rider at Turf Paradise, Stevens, who resides in Phoenix with his longtime partner Pam Isles, has two grown children, a daughter Jessica and a son, Jake, as well as five grandchildren, four of whom will join him today.
Named for the legendary Hall of Fame jockey George Woolf, who died at age 35 following a spill on Santa Anita’s Club House turn on Jan. 3, 1946, the Woolf Award can only be won once, and it is intended to recognize riders whose careers and personal character earn esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing.