Several of the all-time winningest jockeys in Breeders’ Cup history are still active and will be aboard many of the key contenders in the upcoming World Championships Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar. Having experience at this level of competition counts, and picking the horses ridden by the best time-tested and proven Breeders’ Cup jockeys can be a legitimate tie breaker and difference maker in your handicapping.

Who are the best Breeders’ Cup jockeys? Which jockeys need 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

Irad Ortiz Jr. (Coady Media)

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 20 career Breeders’ Cup wins, with 17 of those victories coming the last six years. Irad has already ascended to fourth on the all-time Breeders’ Cup jockey purse earnings list with $27,780,345. To put that in perspective, the three jockeys ranked above him on that list all did it with at least 50 more mounts.

At the 2023 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita Park, Irad was definitely one of the stars of the weekend with three wins from 13 mounts including victories aboard White Abarrio in the Longines Classic, Goodnight Olive in the PNC Bank Filly and Mare Sprint, and Elite Power in the Sprint (both Goodnight Olive and Elite Power were repeat winners from the same races as 2022). In the 2022 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, Irad also won three races from 13 mounts highlighted by his win on Forte in the Juvenile. Irad also won aboard three of 11 mounts at the 2021 Breeders’ Cup, had two winners in 2020, and had a four-win showing in 2019. Irad’s 20-for-100 record gives him a big 20% win percentage.

For the second straight year in 2023, the other star jockeys of the Breeders’ Cup were foreign invaders. Ryan Moore won two races last year aboard Auguste Rodin in the Longines Turf and Unquestionable in the Prevagen Juvenile Turf. Moore, first-call jockey for the Coolmore operation, has come over from Europe and made an impact on several occasions during his career, winning 14 Breeders’ Cup races from 97 mounts with purses of $23,147,035. Moore won three Breeders’ Cup races in 2022 – the Juvenile Turf, Juvenile Fillies Turf, and the Filly and Mare Turf – giving him five Breeders’ Cup wins the past two years.

The other hot European rider in the Breeders’ Cup has been William Buick with a 24% career win rate. Buick rides for the international racing powerhouse Godolphin and prominent European-based trainer Charlie Appleby and owns eight wins from 33 career Breeders’ Cup mounts including a 2023 win aboard Master of The Seas in the FanDuel Mile Presented by PDJF and 2022 wins in the Juvenile Turf Sprint and in the Mile. Add those to Buick’s three wins in 2021 when Yibir won the Turf, Space Blues won the Mile, and Modern Games took the Juvenile Turf, and you can see that the Buick/Appleby jockey/trainer combo is a difficult to ignore.

The top European-based rider in the history of the Breeders’ Cup is Frankie Dettori, who is now based in the United States. Dettori has won 15 races from 122 mounts dating all the way to his first Breeders’ Cup winner in 1994. Dettori ranks fifth by purse earnings on the all-time Breeders’ Cup jockey list with $27,111,862. His only recent win (since 2018) came last year in the Maker’s Mark Filly and Mare Turf aboard Inspiral.

Besides Irad Ortiz and the Europeans, the jockey who made the biggest impact in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup was Junior Alvarado, who won twice for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott aboard Cody’s Wish in the Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile and Just F Y I in the NetJets Juvenile Fillies. Alvarado’s first career Breeders’ Cup win had come aboard Cody’s Wish in 2022 in the Dirt Mile. His record has now grown to three wins from 19 career Breeders’ Cup mounts.

Mike Smith (BENOIT photo)

The all-time leading rider in the history of the Breeders’ Cup is Mike Smith with 27 career wins and. Smith is not riding too many horses anymore, with his last win coming in the 2021 Juvenile aboard Corniche. Smith leads all jockeys in Breeders’ Cup purses won with $38,464,605, but take note that Corniche stands as Smith’s only Breeders’ Cup win since 2017.

The veteran jockey that could have much more of an impact on the 2024 Breeders’ Cup than Mike Smith is John Velazquez, who now has 20 Breeders’ Cup wins dating back to 2000, including his runaway victory aboard Fierceness in the 2023 FanDuel Juvenile Presented by TAA and his thrilling victory aboard Malathaat in the 2022 Longines Distaff. There still may be no better rider to have aboard your Breeders’ Cup contender than “Johnny V.” He is ranked second in all-time Breeders’ Cup purse earnings with $37,030,275 and his 20 wins are tied with Irad Ortiz for second all time.

Other veteran jockeys who have had Breeders’ Cup success in recent years are led by Joel Rosario, whose career Breeders’ Cup record is 15-for-152 with career purses totaling $29,062,535, ranking him third on the earnings list. Rosario will attempt to get back into the winner’s circle after going winless in six mounts in 2023 and in 11 mounts in 2022. Rosario’s most recent two winners were in 2021 with Knicks Go in the Longines Classic and Echo Zulu in the NetJets Juvenile Fillies. He won at least one Breeders’ Cup race every year from 2014-21.

Florent Geroux also deserves an honorable mention. Geroux’s record of eight Breeders’ Cup wins from only 42 mounts places him amongst the active leaders in terms of win percentage. Geroux was winless in 10 total Breeders’ Cup mounts in 2021-22 but got back in the win column in 2023 thanks to his victory aboard Idiomatic in the Longines Distaff.

Underperforming Breeders’ Cup Jockeys

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

Perhaps the most surprising name on the list of underperforming Breeders’ Cup jockeys is Jose Ortiz, who is often mentioned in the conversation of best jockeys in North America. So far, however, he has not found widespread success in the Breeders’ Cup. Jose Ortiz went 0-for-5 at the 2023 Breeders’ Cup and 0-for-9 in 2022 to move his overall Breeders’ Cup record to five wins from 82 mounts for a lifetime win percentage of just 6%.

Tyler Gaffalione (Coady Media)

Another jockey you would expect a better Breeders’ Cup record from is Tyler Gaffalione, who wins jockey titles all over Kentucky, but he just hasn’t delivered in the Breeders’ Cup throughout his career despite a big Breeders’ Cup in 2022 when he won both the Turf Sprint aboard Caravel and the Juvenile Fillies aboard Wonder Wheel. With the exception of 2022, Gaffalione was winless all other years and now boasts only a 2-for-55 career Breeders’ Cup record.

Superstar Flightline was the hero of the 2022 Breeders’ Cup and Flavien Prat was aboard his Breeders’ Cup Classic win. Prat also won a race in 2023 when he piloted Hard to Justify to win the Juvenile Fillies Turf. It’s good to see Prat’s stock rising now because before the last two years, his record was not even remotely good. Even with wins the last two years, Prat was 1-for-14 in 2022 and 1-for-13 in 2023 and his overall record is still only five wins from 84 career mounts for a win percentage narrowly under 6%.

Finally, the most glaring member of this high-profile list of top everyday jockeys that has yet to find Breeders’ Cup success 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 63 mounts (0-for-10 in 2023). Saez’s lone win came in 2020 aboard Essential Quality in the Juvenile. He had four third-place finishes in 2023.

Will 2024 be the breakout year at the Breeders’ Cup for jockeys like Prat, Saez, Gaffalione, and Jose Ortiz? Or will all-time Breeders’ Cup leaders like Irad Ortiz, Smith, Velazquez, Dettori, and Moore continue to dominate the winner’s circle? Who will be the jockey stars of the 2024 Breeders’ Cup? Tune-in Nov. 1-2 to find out. Enjoy the races and best of luck.