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66-Year-Old Perry Ouzts: ‘As Long As I Can Keep Winning, I Will Keep On Riding’

On his way to and from Keeneland's Jockey Quarters for Sunday's first race, 66-year-old rider Perry Ouzts received a series of shout outs and congratulations from those on hand at the Lexington, Ky., track. The accolades were for his latest milestone: becoming North America's sixth all-time leading rider by wins on the Oct. 9 closing-day program at Belterra Park near Cincinnati.

The victory that day was the 7,142nd of Ouzts' career, pushing him one win ahead of Hall of Famer Chris McCarron and holding him steady as the leader among active jockeys. Congratulations arrived via texts, calls and videos from numerous fans, including McCarron and Hall of Famer Pat Day, while an especially meaningful greeting came from retired trainer W.J. Danner, who provided Ouzts with his first victory on April 2, 1973, at Beulah Park in Ohio.

Ouzts' Keeneland mount on Sunday, Maurice Miller's homebred It's Summer, finished fifth.

“It is very special to come to Keeneland, but it is harder to win,” said Ouzts, who has ridden here sparingly during his career and has five wins. “Horses at Keeneland are a much higher level than the ones at Belterra.”

Ouzts will be at Keeneland a little in the coming days. In Friday's second race, he is named to ride Jerome Russell and Kristina Russell's She's No Drama.

Sunday's ride aboard It's Summer was business as usual for Ouzts, who said he pays little attention to his statistics. With no plans for retirement, Ouzts expects to compete this winter in Northern Kentucky at Turfway Park, where he has been a regular for nearly 50 years. His summer base is Belterra (formerly River Downs.)

“I get through the day, turn the page and go to the next day,” said Ouzts, who attributes his success to dedication, determination, desire to win – and a naturally light physique.

On the list of all-time leading riders by wins, Ouzts trails only Russell Baze (12,842 wins), Laffit Pincay Jr. (9,530), Bill Shoemaker (8,833), Pat Day (8,803) and David Gall (7,396).

“I have never found anything else that gives me that thrill (of winning) every time, no matter if it is an (ordinary) race or a stakes race,” Ouzts said. “I get that same thrill every time. That is what keeps me going. As long as I can keep winning, I will keep on riding.”

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Ouzts Passes McCarron On All-Time List With 7,142nd Win

The ageless wonder, jockey Perry Wayne Ouzts, reached another milestone on Friday's closing-day program at Belterra Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, when he rode Wine Me Up Baby to a wire-to-wire 3 1/4-length victory in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies. Wine Me Up Baby, an Ohio-bred by Kantharos, is trained by Michael Evans II for Sheltowee Farm.

The win was No. 7,142 for the 66-year-old Ouzts, moving the Arkansas native past Chris McCarron as the sixth all-time winningest jockey in North American racing. It was Ouzts' 76th win of the Belterra meet from 406 mounts, placing him second behind John McKee (90 wins) in the rider standings. Ouzts is winning at an 18% clip in 2020, having ridden 76 of his 411 mounts to victory. Earlier this year, on June 25, Ouzts rode five winners on an eight-race card at Belterra Park

Ouzts began his riding career in 1973, the year Secretariat won the Triple Crown, scoring his first victory in March of that year at defunct Beulah Park near Columbus, Ohio. He won 11 riding titles at Beulah and 18 at River Downs, the Cincinnati track that's been replaced by Belterra.

Ouzts is the winningest active rider in North American racing.

The top 10 all-time North American jockeys by wins are: Russell Baze (12,842); Laffit Pincay Jr. (9,530); William Shoemaker (8,833); Pat Day (8,803); David Gall (7,396); Perry Ouzts (7,142); Chris McCarron (7,141); Edgar Prado (7,078); Angel Cordero Jr. (7,057); and Mario Pino (6,959).

Prado and Pino are the only other active riders in the top 10.

Ouzts is one of three riders in the top 10 who have not been inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame, along with Gall (who rode at Fairmount Park in Illinois) and Pino (who rides primarily in the Mid-Atlantic).

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Apprentice Jessica Pyfer Rides Longshot Indy Jones To Her First Victory At Santa Anita

It's often said racing is a game of peaks and valleys. And so it was for 22-year-old Jessica Pyfer on Friday at Santa Anita, as she experienced major trouble leaving the gate aboard 6-5 favorite Give Me a Hint in the third race, only to experience the ultimate exhilaration of winning her first career race in the day's ninth and final, aboard the Val Brinkerhoff-trained Indy Jones.

“I had two more mounts and I knew I had to make it up somehow,” said Pyfer, who was soaking wet from multiple buckets of ice water administered in a time-honored fashion by her fellow jockeys prior to a winner's circle interview on TVG. “Val told me at Del Mar that this horse was ready and I really can't thank him enough for this one. I'm just feeling so blessed and so happy that I decided to go down this road.

“I knew at the top of the stretch when I was in front, that I had to stay in front. That was my only motivation to get down to the wire. It was just such an amazing feeling and all the guys in the jocks' room have been so awesome to me, celebrating me by drenching me with water, but they've all helped out so much, I just can't thank them enough.”

A native of Denver, Colo., Pyfer has been raised around racing as her father, Roger Pyfer is an ex-jockey and her mother Sherrie is now married to top trainer Phil D'Amato and assists in the management of his stable.

In what was her sixth career mount, Pyfer had Indy Jones away alertly from her number four post position, was head and head into and around the far turn with Baby Gronk to her inside, took charge a quarter mile from home and prevailed by 1 1/4 lengths while getting 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:18.50.

Winless in his last 10 starts and ridden for the first time today by Pyfer, Indy Jones, a 4-year-old gelding by Temple City who was entered for a $16,000 claiming tag, was off at 14-1 and paid $31.60, $14.60 and $7.00.

“Sixth mount. But I've learned so much in the past six months that it's just crazy how things happen.”

Indeed it is as Jessica Pyfer is now on her way as a promising young apprentice with but one mount on Saturday, the George Papaprodromou-trained Lucky Ryan Seven in the ninth race.

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It Can Be Done Among Ferrer’s Five Winners Sunday At Monmouth Park

The stakes were considerably higher but the tactics were exactly the same for jockey Jose Ferrer on Sunday at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. Get to the lead, slow down the fractions and steal off with a grass route race.

The veteran rider did that in a Maiden Special Weight race early on the card at Monmouth Park from an outside post on Sunday at odds of 18-1 and the repeated the strategy with 6-1 shot It Can Be Done in the inaugural running of the $150,000 Nownownow Stakes, scoring a comfortable 2½-length victory over Mischievous Dream in the one-mile turf feature for 2-year-olds.

Ferrer won five races on the 12-race card.

“Jose is a master of getting to the lead and slowing it down on the turf,” said winning trainer Gregg Sacco. “He had to go a little fast the first quarter but he slowed it down the second quarter and when that happens if you have horse you have horse.”

Neither Sacco nor Ferrer was sure about It Can Be Done's lasting power since he had only sprinted his first three career starts, including a 41/2-length victory in a Maiden Special Weight race in his last start on Sept. 20.

Though Ferrer had to use the Kentucky-bred son of Temple City to get the lead from the outside post in the eight-horse field, going :23.38 for the first quarter, he backed down the half to :48.33 and was able to lope to three-quarters of a mile in 1:13.52.

The final time over the firm turf course was 1:37.57.

Sapling winner Mischievous Dream, a closer and the only filly in the field, could never make up ground in the stretch because of Ferrer's ability to control a leisurely pace.

“The game plan was just what happened – get to the lead and slow it down,” said Ferrer. “That was the intention, to walk the dogs. Coming from races at three-quarters to this I knew he was going to want to show some speed. The first quarter was a little quick but once he made the lead he settled down and I was able to nurse him on the backside. In the stretch he took off like a jet.

“I was a little worried about going two turns the first time with him coming from three quarters. Of course I was. But the race worked out the way we wanted it to and needed it to.”

Sacco said taking off the blinkers, worn by It Can Be Done his first two starts but not his past two victories, has made the difference for the gelding.

“We only sprinted him before this but the first two starts we had blinkers on him. The key was taking them off,” said Sacco. “He's bred to run all day. He's a medium-sized horse with a great length of stride. From his gallops in the morning we didn't think distance would be a limitation but we were jumping from a Maiden Special Weight race to a stakes race and there were some talented horses in the race so we knew were coming into a tough heat.

“He ran dynamite on the turf in his only grass start (prior to this). He ran right up to the leader but he wouldn't go by him with the blinkers. He put it all together in his last start. You don't know about two turns until you stretch them out but it was really nice.”

It Can Be Done, owned by Red Oak Stable, paid $14.00 to win.

Mischievous Dream held off No One To Blame for second by a nose.

Racing resumes for the Meadowlands-at-Monmouth Park meet with a 10-race card on Wednesday, Oct. 7. First race post time is 12:50 p.m.

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