Jockey Jessica Pyfer retires, moves to racing analyst role

Eclipse Award-winning jockey Jessica Pyfer has retired from riding races. She will remain in the sport, and has taken a role as a racing analyst with Santa Anita Park and XBTV.

Pyfer announced her retirement from riding races in a thread on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday. Although she will no longer ride races, she plans to continue riding horses in the mornings. Her retirement was previously reported by Thoroughbred Daily News.

Based in Southern California, Pyfer rode from 2020 through 2023. She made just ten starts in the afternoon this year, most recently when riding Rakassah to a fourth-place finish August 5 in a claiming-level turf dash at Del Mar.

Pyfer earned the Eclipse Award for outstanding apprentice jockey for the year 2021. She made 819 starts in her career, winning 88 times and winning purses of $4,210,897. She won the 2022 Snow Chief Stakes with Bally's Charm, her first and only stakes victory as a jockey. Though she never won a graded race, she rode Road Rager to a third-place finish behind Gamine in the 2021 Great Lady M (G2) at Los Alamitos.