Top jockeys: Who are the leading riders at major tracks?

Now that we’re in the middle of winter racing, this is a perfect time to look at the leading riders at top meets across the nation. Let’s check on who is at the top of the standings at Gulfstream Park, Santa Anita, Oaklawn, Turfway Park, Fair Grounds, Aqueduct and Tampa Bay Downs. 

For consistency, all of these stats go back to Dec. 1 other than Oaklawn, which started the next week, and Santa Anita, which opened Dec. 26. 

We've ranked jocks by most wins, but we’ll also look at win percentage and Horse Racing Nation impact, which measures a rider’s relative success compared to the odds of the mounts. Jockeys with a positive HRN impact are outperforming their odds and typically good bets going forward, while jockeys with negative HRN impact are underperforming expectations. 

Gulfstream Park: Ortiz brothers and Paco Lopez

While there’s no surprise that brothers Irad Ortiz Jr. and Jose Ortiz check in at first and third in the standings, it is worth noting that Paco Lopez is having a strong start to the meet. Lopez checks in second with a 22 percent win rate, and his HRN impact of plus 42 percent is worth noting. That indicates he’s significantly moving up horses, and it’s based on a large sample of 267 mounts. 

Flavien Prat, Juan Hernandez and Antonio Fresu lead the way with 23, 23 and 20 wins and all checking in at 20 percent win rate or higher. Frankie Dettori and Umberto Rispoli have fewer mounts but are winning at 19 and 20 percent, respectively. 

Oaklawn: Torres, Esquivel lead the way

Christian Torres heads the pack at Oaklawn Park leading not only in wins with 27 and win percentage at 18, but vastly leads in number of mounts with 154. Emmanuel Esquivel checks in second with a 15 percent win rate and a notable plus 49 percent HRN impact. Note with larger field sizes at Oaklawn, overall win percentages are lower. 

Turfway: Machado and former bug Concepcion 

Similar to Oaklawn, with large field sizes, win percentages are a bit lower, but Luan Machado is leading this group with 35 wins and a 17 percent win rate.  

Axel Concepcion lost his bug during the meet but is currently second with 32 wins and a 15 percent win rate. Further down the list, Adam Beschizza and Alberto Burgos are putting together a nice meet with fewer mounts. Beschizza has won 17 percent of his races with a plus 28 percent impact while Burgos has won 20 percent of races with a lofty plus 71 percent impact. 

Fair Grounds: Crowded at the top

The jockey colony in New Orleans is contentious at the top with six riders within six wins of each other. Jose Guerrero leads with 29 wins, while Florent Geroux has the highest win rate with 28 percent. 

Aqueduct: Three-way battle at top

In another contentious colony, Jose Lezcano with 34 wins, Dylan Davis 33 and Kendrick Carmouche 30 are locked in a tight battle at the top. Lezcano is winning at a 24 percent clip, however, so he’s leading with fewer mounts than the others.   

Tampa Bay: Camacho leads, followed by Gallardo

Familiar Regular riders Samy Camacho and Antonio Gallardo both are winning at an impressive 24 percent rate, but Camacho has 55 more mounts and is leading the way with 49 wins to 37.