The 18th Bill Shoemaker Award will be given this weekend to the outstanding jockey of the two-day Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland, which kicks off Friday afternoon.
Won the past two years by Irad Ortiz Jr., who has 10 mounts in Championship races this weekend, the Shoemaker Award will go to the jockey who rides the most winners in the 14 Championship races. Should there be a tie among two or more riders with the most victories, the deadlock will be broken on a 10-3-1 point system for second- through fourth-place finishes.
The elder Ortiz brother's Breeders' Cup mounts include: Golden Pal (Juvenile Turf Sprint, Wesley Ward), Public Sector (Juvenile Turf, Chad Brown), Royal Approval (Juvenile Fillies Turf, Wesley Ward), Reinvestment Risk (Juvenile, Chad Brown), Come Dancing (Filly & Mare Sprint, Carlos Martin), Imprimis (Turf Sprint, Joe Orseno), Sharp Samurai (Dirt Mile, Mark Glatt), Nay Lady Nay (Filly & Mare Turf, Chad Brown), Whitmore (Sprint, Ron Moquett), and Improbable (Classic, Bob Baffert).
The Shoemaker Award is named in honor of one of the greatest jockeys in the history of Thoroughbred racing. Shoemaker, who captured the Kentucky Derby four times, won more than 8,800 races in a career that spanned more than 40 years. In 1987, at age 56, Shoemaker won the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) aboard Ferdinand at Hollywood Park.
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