Ramon A. Vazquez

A native of Puerto Rico, Ramon Vazquez graduated from the Puerto Rico Vocational Jockey School located at the Hipodromo Camarero near San Juan in 2002. He began his career in his home country and won 284 races during his apprentice year and never let up. In nine seasons in Puerto Rico, he won more than 1,500 races.

Vazquez moved to the U.S. in 2011 and started riding at Delaware Park. His profile has risen in recent years as a leading rider at Oaklawn Park, Remington Park, Turfway Park, Ellis Park, Gulfstream Park, and Prairie Meadows. Vazquez finished second in the jockey standings at Oaklawn Park in both 2015 and 2016. He picked up his first graded stakes winner in the U.S. when Subtle Indian took the 2016 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap.

Vazquez moved his tack to southern California in 2022. He finished third in the 2022 Del Mar summer standings, then dethroned local kingpin Juan Hernandez at Santa Anita in the fall. His purse total of nearly $10 million in 2022 was by far the high watermark of his career.

Vazquez is known for being the regular rider of Practical Move, among many other horses. Practical Move won the 2023 Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes and in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby with Vazquez aboard. The colt was withdrawn from the 149th Kentucky Derby on May 4 due to an elevated temperature.

Before Practical Move came along, Vazquez was  known as the man aboard stakes-winning horses such as Lone Rock, winner of the Grade 2 2021 Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont Park by 11 1/2 lengths plus several other long-distance stakes, and as the rider of And Tell Me Nolies, winner of the 2022 Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes, the 2022 Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante.