Kentucky Derby 2022: See in-depth records of all 20 jockeys

If Epicenter bucks the morning line and comes out of the starting gate Saturday with the shortest odds in Kentucky Derby 2022, it will be the second time Joel Rosario has ridden the favorite in the race. The only other time he did was the only time he won the race.

Rosario was on Orb in 2013 for a victorious ride that also marked the last time a closer crossed the finish line first in the Derby. This time America’s reigning champion jockey will be on a colt who is more used to being on or close to the early lead.

Get free Brisnet past performances for Kentucky Derby 2022.

Rosario is among the five jockeys who come into this year’s classic with Derby victories on their résumés. Two riders have more than one. John Velázquez, who will ride Messier, has three wins that count and a fourth that was erased after the late Medina Spirit failed a post-race drug test last year. Mike Smith, who will be on lightly raced Taiba, has won the Derby twice, most recently with eventual Triple Crown champion Justify in 2018.

Florent Géroux will ride Cyberknife in search of his second consecutive Derby win. His first actually came this past winter, eight months after the 2021 race, when Mandaloun replaced Medina Spirit. None of Géroux’s five previous Derby horses was shorter than 10-1 at post time.

Here are this year’s jockeys who bring in previous Derby experience, including their mounts, finishes and post-time odds.

Rafael Bejarano – Happy Jack

Papa Clem, who finished fourth in 2009, was as close as Bejarano, 39, has come to hitting the board in 11 previous Derby starts. Not that he would have been expected to do better. Ten of his mounts carried odds of at least 12-1. Happy Jack is likely to be the 11th. Originally from Perú, Bejarano has finished in the money twice in the Belmont Stakes with a second on 11-1 Andromeda’s Hero in 2005 and a third on 6-1 Sunriver in 2006.

Joe Bravo – Pioneer of Medina

The man known as Jersey Joe before he moved to California last year has raced just three times in the Derby, most recently coming in third on 8-1 Danza in 2014. Bravo, 50, has not raced at Churchill Downs since 2020, when he finished sixth on Micheline in the Regret (G3). His record in Louisville is 75: 8-11-12 with a pair of Grade 1 victories – on Little Mike in the 2012 Turf Classic and on Bradester in the 2016 Stephen Foster.

Luis Contreras – Ethereal Road

A two-time Canadian champion jockey, the 36-year-old native of México City will be in his third Derby and his second riding for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. The first time in 2014, Contreras took 66-1 Bravazo to a sixth-place finish. He has not raced at Churchill Downs since he finished second on Starship Jubilee in the 2019 Cardinal (G3). With a record of 28: 1-4-4 at the track, his only win was in an allowance race in 2017. Contreras also finished second on Breaking Lucky in the 2016 Clark Handicap (G1).

Manny Franco – Zozos

After finishing next to last on 52-1 long shots in 2015 and 2019, Franco was in the unique position of riding a horse that already was a classic winner coming into the 2020 Derby. Tiz the Law finished first in the one-turn, 1 1/8-mile Belmont Stakes to open the COVID-altered Triple Crown series. Riding the odds-on favorite in the September running of the Derby, Franco drew even with pacesetter Authentic just before turning into the homestretch only to lose by 1 1/4 lengths. Originally from Puerto Rico, Franco, 27, also won the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Sharing.

Tyler Gaffalione – White Abarrio

This month’s Florida Derby (G1) may give Kentucky’s winningest rider last year his best chance to finish in the money for the first time in a Derby. He might have gotten there in 2019 if War of Will had not been pinched in the second turn when Maximum Security veered inward on the way to a disqualification. Gaffalione, 27, who was the top apprentice jockey in North America in 2015, never has had a Derby horse who was shorter than 10-1.

Florent Géroux – Cyberknife

Asterisk notwithstanding on his adjudicated victory last year on Mandaloun, Géroux was going to be in the money in last year’s Derby one way or another. His five rides in the classic never had odds shorter than double digits. In hindsight, future champion Gun Runner might have been a 10-1 overlay in 2016, when the now 35-year-old native of Argentan, France, made his Derby debut and finished third. The Steve Asmussen-trained Candy Ride colt would go on to become the horse of the year in 2017, when Géroux rode him to victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Brian Hernandez Jr. – Tiz the Bomb

This will be the third Derby for the country’s top apprentice jockey in 2004. Now 36, Hernandez will be in the race for the first time since he got a rough ride on McCraken on the way to a hard-luck, eighth-place finish in 2017. Hernandez is looking for his biggest victory since he rode frontrunning Fort Larned to the winner’s circle in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita.

Corey Lanerie – Smile Happy

The winner of the 2021 Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) at Churchill Downs may give Lanerie, 47, his best chance to win the Derby in six tries. None of his five previous mounts was shorter than 25-1. His best previous effort came when he gave deep closer Lookin At Lee, who was 33-1, a ground-saving ride to a surprising, second-place finish behind Always Dreaming in 2017. Lanerie had finished second on 17-1 Cherry Wine in the 2016 Preakness, the first time he hit the board in a classic.

Julien Leparoux – Classic Causeway

No better than fourth in 13 tries, Leparoux, 38, has not been without good rides in the Derby. What he has not had is good luck. In 2011 he was on tepid 5-1 favorite Dialed In, who was bottlenecked at the start before rallying to finish eighth. The next year on Union Rags, also 5-1 but not the favorite, it was déjà vu with traffic at the start and a strong close to wind up seventh. In 2017, Leparoux and 6-1 Classic Empire got the worst of the gap between the old main and auxiliary gates before coming back to finish fourth. The native of Senlis, France, was an Eclipse Award winner as America’s top apprentice in 2006 and then as the top jockey in 2009.

Irad Ortiz Jr. – Mo Donegal

With three Eclipse Awards and 14 Breeders’ Cup wins, the Derby still is missing from Irad Ortiz’s list of accomplishments. The 29-year-old native of Puerto Rico was on the favorite in 2019, but Improbable did not figure in all the drama surrounding disqualified winner Maximum Security. Promoted from fifth to fourth, it was his best Derby finish in five tries. Ortiz’s only victory in a Triple Crown race came in 2016, when Creator won the Belmont Stakes.

José Ortiz – Simplification

Like his older brother, José Ortiz, 28, has a win in the Belmont Stakes. But he, too, is without scores in the Derby or the Preakness. He punched his weight on two short-priced horses who were not Derby favorites. Good Magic, 9-1 in 2018, finished second to Justify. Tacitus, 5-1 in 2019, was promoted from fourth to third. In the Ortiz brothers’ head-to-head Derby matchups, José is 3-1 against Irad. José Ortiz won the Eclipse Award in 2017, when his biggest score was on Tapwrit in the Belmont Stakes.

Flavien Prat – Zandon

Prat rides the morning-line favorite Saturday. He got the benefit of the asterisk with his last two Derby rides. He was promoted to the 2019 victory on 65-1 Country House, the longest shot to win the race in 106 years. The native of Melun, France, was lifted from third to second for his ride last year on Hot Rod Charlie. Southern California’s top jockey for most of the past six years, Prat hit the board with his first Derby ride in 2017, finishing third on 40-1 long shot Battle of Midway. Now based in the east, Prat, 29, was a classic winner last year when he made a decisive rally with Rombauer to finish first in the Preakness.

Joel Rosario - Epicenter

It has been all or nothing for Rosario in the Derby. Throw out his victorious ride on Orb in 2013, and he has fared no better than fourth in nine other tries. He would sooner forget last year’s trip on Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Rock Your World, who missed the break and could not move forward after Rosario lost the grip on his left iron. He did better than expected in his Derby debut when 30-1 Make Music for Me finished fourth in 2010. Rosario also overachieved when 27-1 Practical Joke was fifth in 2017. Rosario, 37, a native of the Dominican Republic, also won the Belmont Stakes in 2014 with Tonalist and in 2019 with Sir Winston.

Luis Sáez – Charge It

Sáez got to the winner’s circle with Maximum Security in 2019 only to be taken down when stewards decided he was guilty of interference in the second turn. Last year he was on Essential Quality, the favorite who endured a bumpy start and conceded 7-8 lengths only to come in a close fourth, later promoted to third. The 29-year-old native of Panamá would get his first classic win last June when Essential Quality held off Hot Rod Charlie in a thrilling finish to the Belmont Stakes. Sáez’s first five Derby assignments were on horses who carried odds of at least 13-1.

Ricardo Santana Jr. – Tawny Port

Never better than fifth in his seven previous Derby rides, Santana, 29, has been saddled with long shots who never have carried a price shorter than 16-1. Lexington Stakes (G3) winner Tawny Port is likely to fit that profile. Santana will be the colt’s fourth different jockey in his six races. His best finish in a classic was third on Tenfold in a foggy running of the 2018 Preakness that was won by eventual Triple Crown champion Justify. When he is not riding for trainer Brad Cox, Santana has ridden more of Asmussen’s North American record number of training victories than any other jockey.

Mike Smith – Taiba

With 27 previous starts, the 56-year-old Hall of Famer and most experienced Derby rider ever will be on the least experienced horse. Taiba’s Santa Anita Derby victory came in only his second race. It took Smith 12 tries, including three on favorites, before he had his stunning Derby breakthrough 17 years ago on Giacomo. Smith’s other victory in the race came on eventual Triple Crown winner Justify, giving him a 1-for-5 record with Derby favorites.

John Velázquez – Messier

Only Smith and the late Bill Shoemaker have taken more Derby rides than Hall of Famer Velázquez, 50, who had four victories in the race before Medina Spirit’s retroactive disqualification. As it stands, only Eddie Arcaro, Bill Hartack and Shoemaker have more Derby victories than the three for Velázquez, whose first literally was by accident. He got the 2011 ride on Animal Kingdom after regular rider Robby Albarado suffered a broken nose during a post parade three days before the Derby. After ending his 0-for-12 drought, Velázquez has crossed the finish line first in four of his last 11 Derby trips. The only time he rode the post-time favorite was 2017, when he delivered with Always Dreaming. This marks the 16th year in a row that Velázquez has had a Derby assignment, tying Arcaro (1944-59) and trailing only Pat Day’s 21 (1984-2004).

First-time Derby riders

Three jockeys – Mickaël Barzalona on Summer Is Tomorrow, Rey Gutiérrez on Barber Road and Christophe Lemaire on Crown Pride – will make their Derby debuts Saturday. Mario Gutiérrez, on I’ll Have Another in 2012, was the last such rookie to win the race. He and Smarty Jones’s rider Stewart Elliott were the only two jockeys to do it in the last 42 runnings.

Mickaël Barzalona – Summer Is Tomorrow

In his 11th year under contract to Godolphin, Barzalona, 30, has raced only twice before at Churchill Downs, both times on long shots in the 2018 Breeders’ Cup. The day after he rode 30-1 The Black Album to an eighth-place result in the Juvenile Turf, he and 22-1 Talismanic finished sixth in the Turf. The previous year Barzalona and Talismanic won that renewal of the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar. That remains Barzalona’s only victory in eight North American starts. His last time racing in America, the native of Avignon, France, rode 9-1 Sealiway to finish fifth in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland. Barzalona’s greatest successes have come on the other side of the Atlantic, where he took 4-1 second choice Pour Moi to victory on the turf in the 2011 Epsom Derby (G1) and 20-1 Monterosso to a win in the 2012 Dubai World Cup (G1) on what was then a synthetic surface at Meydan. Although he has won dirt races in Asia, this week will mark Barzalona’s first time competing on a main track in the U.S.

Rey Gutiérrez – Barber Road

As an apprentice jockey, Gutiérrez, 26, was a finalist four years ago for an Eclipse Award. A native of Rochester, N.Y., and a graduate of the State University of New York at Cortland, Gutiérrez’s first graded-stakes score outside his native state came at Churchill Downs, where he and 9-5 favorite Hidden Connection won the 2021 Pocahontas (G3) for 2-year-old fillies. He has an 80: 12-9-9 record racing in Louisville, all on Churchill’s main track, including 22: 4-2-2 in two-turn races. His only other stakes starts there also were last fall, finishing sixth on Mr Dumas in the Ack Ack (G3) and second on Mucho in the listed Bet on Sunshine sprint.

Christophe Lemaire – Crown Pride

Japan’s reigning five-time riding champion, Lemaire, 43, is a Gouvieux, France, native who has raced only three times at Churchill Downs. Those races were more than a decade ago in the Breeders’ Cup and were not on the main track. He finished third on even-money favorite Behkabad in the 2010 Turf, fourth on 2-1 favorite Sarafina in the 2011 Turf and last on rank 14-1 long shot Dear Lavinia in the 2011 Juvenile Fillies Turf. Lemaire earned two Grade 1 grass victories in the U.S. in 2012, on Bayrir in the Secretariat at Arlington and on Flotilla in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita. His last time racing in America was in 2013, when he and Visiyani came in fifth in the Secretariat.