George Martens | |
---|---|
Occupation | Jockey |
Born | Elmont, New York, United States | September 23, 1958
Career wins | 686 |
Major racing wins | |
Hill Prince Stakes (1975) Empire Classic Handicap (1976) | |
Racing awards | |
Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey (1976) | |
Significant horses | |
Summing, Key To Content, Cryptoclearance |
George Martens (born September 23, 1958, in Elmont, New York) is a retired American jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. He is best known for winning the 1981 Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. [1]
In 1976, George Martens was the top rated apprentice jockey in the United States, voted the Eclipse Award as the country's Outstanding Apprentice Jockey. In 1981 he earned the most important win of his career when he rode Summing to victory in the Belmont Stakes. [2]
Martens retired from riding in 1985 but returned to racing the following year. Following his permanent retirement, he has worked as an exercise rider at Belmont Park. Some of the horses he has prepped include Lemon Drop Kid, Touch Gold, Sharp Humor, and Colonial Affair. [3]
Ronald Joseph Morel "Ronnie" Turcotte, is a retired Canadian thoroughbred race horse jockey best known as the rider of Secretariat, winner of the U.S. Triple Crown in 1973.
Desmond Sandford "Sandy" Hawley, is a Canadian Hall of Fame jockey.
Edgar S. Prado is a retired Peruvian jockey in thoroughbred horse racing.
James Gordon Rowe Sr. was an American jockey and horse trainer elected to the Hall of Fame for Thoroughbred Horse racing. He won the Belmont Stakes twice as a jockey and 8 times as a trainer. He had 34 champion horses to his credit, more than any other trainer in the Hall of Fame.
Edward J. Delahoussaye is a retired American Thoroughbred jockey from New Iberia, Louisiana.
Craig Perret is an American thoroughbred horse racing jockey. He began riding horses at age five and by seven was riding quarter horses in match races. At age fifteen he began his career in thoroughbred racing and in 1967 was the leading apprentice jockey in the United States in terms of money won.
Jorge Velásquez is a thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey.
Ismael Valenzuela was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. He was one of 22 children born to parents who had immigrated to the United States. Shortly after Valenzuela's birth, the family returned to their native Mexico. At age 14, Valenzuela came back to the United States where he began working with quarter horses, then launched his career as a jockey at a racetrack in Tucson, Arizona. He eventually began riding in California and came to national prominence as a jockey competing for the American Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.
Richard Migliore is a retired American jockey. He now works as a racing analyst for XBTV. He was nicknamed "The Mig," which is a type of Russian fighter jet, for his tenacious style of riding. He lives with his wife, Carmela, and children in Millbrook, New York.
Alfred Masson Robertson was a Hall of Fame jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing.
Victor Espinoza is a Mexican jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing who won the Triple Crown in 2015 on American Pharoah. He began riding in his native Mexico and went on to compete at racetracks in California. He has won the Kentucky Derby three times, riding War Emblem in 2002, California Chrome in 2014, and American Pharoah in 2015. He also won the Preakness Stakes three times, in those same years and with the same horses. He was the first jockey in history to enter the Belmont Stakes with a third opportunity to win the Triple Crown; his 2015 victory made him the oldest jockey and first Hispanic jockey to accomplish the feat. He joined Ron Turcotte as the only jockeys to win five of the six jewels of the Triple Crown spread over two consecutive years.
Walter Blum was an American jockey who won 4,382 races in a 22-year career. Blum received the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award for being the best jockey of 1964. He won the 1971 Belmont Stakes as the jockey of 34-1 long shot Pass Catcher, which prevented Canonero II from winning the Triple Crown. He was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1986, and the following year into the United States Racing Hall of Fame.
John L. Rotz was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey and a World Champion in Western riding competitions.
In the United States, the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, commonly known as the Triple Crown, is a series of horse races for three-year-old Thoroughbreds, consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. The three races were inaugurated in different years, the last being the Kentucky Derby in 1875. The Triple Crown Trophy, commissioned in 1950 but awarded to all previous winners as well as those after 1950, is awarded to a horse who wins all three races and is thereafter designated as a Triple Crown winner. The races are traditionally run in May and early June of each year, although global events have resulted in schedule adjustments, such as in 1945 and 2020.
Bold Venture was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.
William Norris Boland is an American retired Hall of Fame jockey and trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing.
Harry Bassett (1868–1878) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, winner of the 1871 Belmont Stakes and an outstanding racehorse of the 19th century. He also won a number of other stakes races, and was named the Champion male of his age group in 1870, 1871 and 1872. He was retired to stud duties in New Jersey when his five-year racing career ended, having recorded 23 wins from 36 starts. Harry Bassett died in New Jersey in 1878 and was inducted into the United States Racing Hall of Fame in 2010.
James Dee "Jimmy" Nichols was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey and horseman who, after retiring from race-riding, played a key role in the two U.S. Triple Crown race wins of Risen Star.
Irad Ortiz Jr. is a Puerto Rican jockey who has been a leading rider in the New York Thoroughbred horse racing circuit since 2012. He won his first Breeders' Cup race on Lady Eli in 2014, and his first American Classic on Creator in the 2016 Belmont Stakes. He won the 2022 Belmont Stakes on Mo Donegal.
Donald "Donnie" Andrew Miller Jr. is a retired thoroughbred horse racing jockey who competed from the 1980s to mid 1990s. Miller started racing in the early 1980s and had the most wins as an apprentice jockey in 1981. As a jockey, Miller won twenty three graded stakes races from 1982 to 1992. Of his wins, Miller won the 1983 Preakness Stakes with Deputed Testamony as part of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.