See the 10 jockeys who climbed the money list in 2020

Jockeys have not had an easy go of it in 2020.

The COVID pandemic led to reduced purses and cancellations or postponements of major races. It also halted racing on various circuits for weeks or months at a time and triggered restrictions that sometimes made it harder for jockeys to ride in other jurisdictions.

Despite the year’s tumult, familiar names sit atop the 2020 money list for North American jockeys.

After Wednesday's action, Irad Ortiz Jr. ($20.62 million) led the list by more than $2 million over second-place Joel Rosario ($18.12 million). Rounding out the top five were Luis Saez ($16.14 million), Tyler Gaffalione ($15.21 million) and John Velazquez ($15.09 million).

Ortiz Jr. is on pace to lead all North American riders in money earned for the third straight season. Among his seven Grade 1 victories of 2020 are the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (Mucho Gusto), Breeders’ Cup Sprint (Whitmore) and Whitney Stakes (Improbable).

From 2019 to 2020, Saez climbed four spots on the money list (seventh to third), while Gaffalione (10th to fourth) and Florent Geroux (12th to sixth) both improved their position by six rungs on the ladder.

Horse Racing Nation compared the 2020 jockey earnings list with its 2019 counterpart to see which riders had the biggest jumps in the rankings this season. These 10 North American-based jockeys, identified in the top 50 on the 2020 list, increased their positions the most from last season.

1. Umberto Rispoli

2020 (through Wednesday): 18th, $6.91 million

2019: 819th, $74,722

Up 801 spots

Highest-earning 2020 mount: Smooth Like Strait ($255,000)

Two-time Italian champion jockey Rispoli joined the Southern California circuit in the final days of 2019. In his first full season riding in the U.S., he ranks behind only Flavien Prat ($11.41 million) and Abel Cedillo ($7.85 million) in earnings among West Coast riders. Rispoli scored one Grade 2 win each aboard Maxim Rate, Pixelate, Red King and Smooth Like Strait, and can aim for a first Grade 1 on Santa Anita’s loaded Dec. 26 card.

2. Justin Stein

2020: 28th, $5.44 million

2019: 147th, $2.01 million

Up 119 spots

Highest-earning 2020 mount: Starship Jubilee ($600,000)

Stein ranked in the top 50 of the earnings list from 2011 to 2014, retired from riding in 2016, then returned in 2019. The Canadian jockey made up for lost time with five graded stakes wins in 2020, highlighted by Starship Jubilee’s Woodbine Mile (G1) victory. Stein and other Woodbine horsepeople lost chances to further increase earnings when the track canceled the final 12 race cards of its season because of local COVID restrictions.

3. Emma-Jayne Wilson

2020: 49th, $3.52 million

2019: 130th, $2.3 million

Up 81 spots

Highest-earning 2020 mount: Say the Word ($231,000)

Another Woodbine jockey, Wilson is back in the North American top 50 for the first time since 2014. She won four graded stakes races in 2020, scoring Grade 1 wins in the Natalma Stakes with Lady Speightspeare and the Northern Dancer Turf Stakes aboard Say the Word. Wilson won the 2007 Queen’s Plate and still seeks a second win in Canada’s richest race after her mount Tecumseh’s War was fourth in 2020.

4. Deshawn Parker

2020: 36th, $4.28 million

2019: 108th, $2.67 million

Up 72 spots

Highest-earning 2020 mount: Bodecream ($122,500)

Parker began the last decade by leading North American jockeys in wins in 2010 and 2011. He has started this decade with another strong season, claiming his first Indiana Grand riding title. Parker’s 2020 victories included an Indiana Grand stakes score aboard next-out American Turf Stakes (G2) winner Fancy Liquor, and Sam Houston stakes wins with Bodecream and Redatory.

5. Martin Garcia

2020: 37th, $4.18 million

2019: 96th, $2.86 million

Up 59 spots

Highest-earning 2020 mount: Harvey’s Lil Goil ($357,929)

Once a leading rider on the West Coast, Garcia shifted his tack east this season. He seemed to score his first Grade 1 win since 2017 when Charlatan crossed first in a division of Oaklawn Park’s Arkansas Derby, but the colt was later disqualified for failing a drug test. Garcia’s Grade 1 win came later in the year at Keeneland, where Harvey’s Lil Goil won the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes.

6. Stewart Elliott

2020: 43rd, $3.78 million

2019: 86th, $3.32 million

Up 43 spots

Highest-earning 2020 mount: Kandy Ginger ($117,221)

Elliott, best known for riding Smarty Jones to victories in the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, reached a career milestone in 2020. The veteran jockey earned career win No. 5,000 with one of the 148 victories he has registered this season. Elliott worked in 2020 at Oaklawn, Lone Star and Remington Park, riding primarily for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.

7. Cristian Torres

2020: 47th, $3.59 million

2019: 80th, $3.54 million

Up 33 spots

Highest-earning 2020 mount: Double Crown ($150,625)

Torres debuted on the South Florida circuit in 2019 with a successful apprenticeship and stayed busy in 2020. The Puerto Rico native has made 1,046 starts this year — ninth most among North American jockeys — and booted home 118 winners. He won a pair of Gulfstream Park stakes aboard Double Crown, then piloted that gelding to in-the-money finishes in two Grade 3 events.

8. Miguel Angel Vasquez

2020: 26th, $5.59 million

2019: 55th, $4.31 million

Up 29 spots

Highest-earning 2020 mount: Princess Secret ($391,300)

Another high-volume jockey in the Sunshine State, Vasquez’s 1,259 mounts this year rank No. 4 in North America. He found the winner’s circle in two legs of the lucrative FTBOA Florida Sire series aboard 2-year-old filly Princess Secret. Vasquez is still hunting for his first graded stakes score after failing to finish in the money in nine attempts this year.

9. Joe Talamo

2020: 14th, $7.94 million

2019: 41st, $5.18 million

Up 27 spots

Highest-earning 2020 mount: Ivar ($623,344)

Like Garcia, former California jockey Talamo shifted his tack east this season, riding at Oaklawn and on the Kentucky circuit. The move yielded his highest yearly earnings since collecting $10.68 million in 2014. This season, Talamo rode Kentucky Oaks winners Serengeti Empress (2019) and Shedaresthedevil (2020) to Oaklawn stakes victories and scored a Grade 1 triumph with Ivar in Keeneland’s Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes.

10. Gerardo Corrales

2020: 46th, $3.59 million

2019: 73rd, $3.74 million

Up 27 spots

Highest-earning 2020 mount: Ramsey Solution ($180,600)

Corrales rode this season across the Bluegrass State and north into Indiana and Ohio, winning with 129 of his 586 starters. He piloted gelding Ramsey Solution to a Kentucky Downs stakes win and filly Alexandria to victories in added-money events at Belterra Park and Mahoning Valley Race Course. Corrales still seeks his first graded-stakes score, having tallied a pair of second-place efforts this year in 17 graded starts.