Several of the all-time winningest jockeys in Breeders’ Cup World Championships history are still active, and if you are stuck between two horses in any given race and looking for a tiebreaker in your handicapping on Nov. 3-4 at Santa Anita Park, you could do a lot worse than picking the contenders ridden by jockeys that have had the best success at the Breeders’ Cup so far in their careers.

Based on results in past Breeders’ Cups, some of the best bets may be horses ridden by Mike Smith, John Velazquez, Irad Ortiz Jr., Joel Rosario, and Ryan Moore. Who are the best Breeders’ Cup jockeys, and who needs to improve?  Read on for an overview of how some of the biggest-name jockeys in the world have performed to date on the sport’s biggest stage.

Best Breeders’ Cup Jockeys: The Cream of the Crop

The jockey currently moving up the Breeders’ Cup win leaderboard the fastest is Irad Ortiz Jr., who won his first Breeders’ Cup race in 2014 aboard Lady Eli and is already up to 17 career Breeders’ Cup wins, with 14 of those victories the last five years.

In the 2022 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland. Irad was definitely one of the stars of the weekend. He won three races from 13 mounts including Forte in the FanDuel Juvenile Presented by TAA, Elite Power in the Qatar Racing Sprint, and Goodnight Olive in the Filly and Mare Sprint. Irad also won aboard three of 11 mounts at the 2021 Breeders’ Cup. He had two winners in 2020 and a four-win showing in 2019. Irad’s 17-for-87 record gives him a big 20% win rate, and he has already ascended to 6th on the all-time Breeders’ Cup jockey earnings list with $22,140,345. All the jockeys ranked above him on that list had at least 30 more mounts.

Tyler Gaffalione (Walter Wlodarczyk/NYRA)

The other jockey stars of the 2022 Breeders’ Cup were foreign invaders. Ryan Moore won three races including the Juvenile Turf, Juvenile Fillies Turf, and the Filly and Mare Turf. Moore has come over from Europe and made an impact on several occasions during his career, winning 12 Breeders’ Cup races from 90 mounts with earnings of $20,057,035. Moore’s trio of 2022 winners were his first Breeders’ Cup wins since 2017.

If you are looking for the hottest European rider to bet in terms of the Breeders’ Cup, that title would go to William Buick, who owns seven wins from 30 career Breeders’ Cup mounts, including 2022 wins in the Juvenile Turf Sprint with Mischief Magic and in the Mile aboard Modern Games. Add those to his three wins in 2021 for trainer Charlie Appleby when Yibir won the Longines Turf, Space Blues won the FanDuel Mile Presented by PDJF, and Modern Games took the Juvenile Turf, and you can see that Buick is a difficult jockey to ignore.

Europe’s other winning horse at last year’s Breeders’ Cup was ridden by James Doyle, who scored the first Breeders’ Cup victory of his career aboard Rebel’s Romance in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf.

The other European jockey you are likely to come across in your handicapping is the top European-based rider in the history of the Breeders’ Cup, Frankie Dettori. Dettori, who recently decided to postpone his planned retirement, has won 14 races from 118 mounts dating all the way to his first Breeders’ Cup winner in 1994. Dettori ranks fourth by purse earnings on the all-time Breeders’ Cup jockey list with $25,801,862. His most recent Breeders’ Cup winners, however, came all the way back in 2018.

Besides Irad Ortiz and the Europeans, the jockey who made the biggest impact in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup was Tyler Gaffalione, who won both the Turf Sprint aboard Caravel and the NetJets Juvenile Fillies aboard Wonder Wheel in a 2-for-11 showing. Junior Alvarado had only two mounts in 2022 but picked up his first career Breeders’ Cup victory with Cody’s Wish in the Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile.

The all-time leading rider in the history of the Breeders’ Cup is Mike Smith with 27 career wins and there may be no better rider to have aboard your Breeders’ Cup horse than the veteran known as “Big Money Mike.” Smith is not riding too many horses anymore (just two Breeders’ Cup mounts in 2022 and three in 2021), but Smith did win the 2021 TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Presented by TAA aboard Corniche. Smith leads all jockeys in Breeders’ Cup purses won with $38,344,605, but take note that Corniche stands as Smith’s only Breeders’ Cup win since 2017.

The other jockey on Smith’s level is John Velazquez, who now has 19 Breeders’ Cup wins dating back to 1998, including his thrilling victory aboard Malathaat in the 2022 Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff. That score was Velazquez’s only win in 10 mounts in 2022, but nevertheless you can do a lot worse than having Johnny V. aboard your Breeders’ Cup pick in any race. He is ranked second in all-time Breeders’ Cup purse earnings with $35,610,275.

John Velazquez (Walter Wlodarczyk/NYRA)

Other veteran jockeys who have made the most impact in the Breeders’ Cup in recent years are led by Joel Rosario, this despite him going winless on 11 mounts in 2022. If you are willing to overlook last year, Rosario has been a proven rider with 15 career wins from 146 mounts. Rosario had two winners in 2021 with Knicks Go in the Longines Classic and Echo Zulu in the NetJets Juvenile Fillies and also won a pair in 2020 aboard Knicks Go in the Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile and Vequist in the Juvenile Fillies. Rosario’s doughnut in 2022 ended his impressive streak of winning at least one Breeders’ Cup race every year since 2014. Rosario is all the way up to third on the all-time Breeders’ Cup earnings list with purses of $28,062,535.

For the last few years, Javier Castellano has seen a decline in the number of high-profile Breeders’ Cup mounts he’s been named to ride, and he was winless with just three mounts in 2022. Castellano has had an outstanding year in 2023, however, and he’s expected to be aboard some top contenders, including probable Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic favorite Arcangelo. Castellano already owns 12 career Breeders’ Cup wins and the veteran ranks eighth on the all-time earnings list with $20,877,600.

Florent Geroux was winless in four Breeders’ Cup mounts in 2022 and winless from six mounts in 2021, but his overall record is good with seven Breeders’ Cup winners from only 38 mounts to date. That’s a solid 18% win percentage. Will 2023 be a rebound year for Geroux or will his winless slump extend to three straight years?

Underperforming Breeders’ Cup Jockeys

Not every one of the most high-profile jockeys has enjoyed a lot of Breeders’ Cup success, and it makes you appreciate even more the accomplishments of Irad Ortiz, Mike Smith, John Velazquez, and the other riders mentioned above because winning Breeders’ Cup races with regularity is not an easy task.

Flavien Prat (Coady Photography)

Flavien Prat was the hero of the 2022 World Championship when he guided superstar Flightline to victory in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic. With the exception of Flightline, however, Prat has not been a standout in his Breeders’ Cup outings to date. Flightline was Prat’s only winner from 14 mounts at the 2022 Breeders’ Cup, and his lifetime record is just four winners from his first 71 Breeders’ Cup mounts (5.6%).

Jose Ortiz is often mentioned in the same breath as his brother, Irad, when talking about the leading riders in New York, but when it comes to the Breeders’ Cup, Jose has yet to achieve anything close to the same level of success. Jose Ortiz went 0-for-9 at the 2022 Breeders’ Cup and owns just five Breeders’ Cup wins so far from 77 mounts for a win percentage of 6.5%.

Finally, a jockey that rides essentially on par with the Ortiz brothers at other meets except the Breeders’ Cup is Luis Saez, who has won riding titles at places like Saratoga, Keeneland and Gulfstream Park but so far has only one career Breeders’ Cup win from 53 mounts. Saez’s lone win came in 2020 aboard Essential Quality in the TVG Juvenile Presented by TAA. His best result since then was third-place finish aboard Essential Quality in the 2021 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Will 2023 be Saez’s breakout year at the Breeders’ Cup? How about Prat and Jose Ortiz? Or will all-time Breeders’ Cup leaders such as Irad Ortiz, Mike Smith, John Velazquez, Joel Rosario, and Ryan Moore continue to win the most races? Can Tyler Gaffalione continue to build on his two-win performance in 2022? Who will be the jockey stars of the 2023 Breeders’ Cup? Tune-in Nov. 3-4 to find out and enjoy the races. Best of luck.