Jockey Joel Rosario came into the final month of 2021 with a trio of records well within his sights.
Unfortunately, a fractured rib suffered in a Dec. 2 fall ended his quest for a monumental season. Yet when the year came to an end, it was clear that one prize would not elude Rosario's grasp.
After a year in which he chased the single-season record for earnings, stakes, and graded stakes wins, the 37-year-old Rosario was honored Feb.10 as the Eclipse Award-winning jockey of 2021.
"It's very well-deserved," Rosario's agent Ron Anderson said about the rider's initial Eclipse Award. "He's been a consistent, top echelon rider for years. With the year he had, it's very gratifying."
Though he was sidelined from Dec. 3 until Jan. 14, Rosario still managed to top all riders with 2021 earnings of $32,944,478. The regular rider for likely 2021 Horse of the Year Knicks Go , he fell shy of Irad Ortiz Jr.'s 2019 record of $34,109,019.
Rosario also led in stakes wins (69) and graded stakes (49), but missed the record 76 stakes wins by Garrett Gomez in 2007 and Jerry Bailey's 55 graded stakes wins in 2003.
"I had calls in at least six stakes before he got hurt and I'm sure he would have broken all three records. It didn't work out but we can look forward to 2022," Anderson said.
Ortiz and Flavien Prat were the other finalists.
Pyfer Joins Rare Company
Jessica Pyfer began her riding career later than some apprentices, not until her 20s, but her maturity and riding talent led her to become the Eclipse Award-winning apprentice rider of 2021. Honored in a ceremony Feb. 10 at Santa Anita Park, she became just the third female to win the coveted prize for apprentices, following Rosemary Homeister Jr. in 1992 and and Emma-Jayne Wilson in 2005.
Pyfer, 23, led all North American apprentices by mount earnings last year and also ranked second by wins. She rode 56 winners from 535 mounts through the end of her apprentice allowance Nov. 13 and had earnings of $2,738,863.
Counting statistics after she lost her weight allowance as an apprentice, she finished the year with 59 wins from 557 rides. Her mounts earned $2,857,333.
A graduate of Azusa Pacific University with a degree in political science and a minor in constitutional law, Pyfer was also a quick study on the racetrack. After winning her first race Oct. 9, 2020, at Santa Anita, she became an in-demand rider at the major Southern California tracks of Santa Anita, Del Mar, and Los Alamitos Race Course.
Last May, she set what is believed to be a record in Southern California by becoming the first female apprentice rider to win four races in a single day. She finished the Santa Anita 2020-21 winter/spring meet tied for sixth in the standings.
