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When you think of the world’s highest-earning sports personalities like footballers, basketball stars, Formula 1 drivers and boxing champions come to mind, but there are a number of
jockeys who also earn astronomical amounts with their exploits on the racetrack.
For the purpose of this article we will focus on modern day jockeys, since prize monies in the early 20th century were either non-existent or low. There is virtually no way of comparing the feats of legends like Fred Archer, Sir Gordon Richards or even Lester Piggott in monetary terms, to the earnings of today’s riders, who also take home chunks of revenue in sponsorships and sometimes even appearance fees.
It is surprising, still, that no fewer than eight of the Top 10 presently active jockeys on the list of earnings published by olgb.com hail from Japan where horses, horseracing and jockeys are deeply respected, and their racing industry is supported by major sponsors and huge turnovers, which in turn lead to constantly increasing prize monies.
Japan’s ace rider Yutaka Take has eclipsed all others in terms of career earnings for the horses he has ridden in Japan, with his ¥83.8-billion rounding out at approximately double what US money leader John Velazquez earned, and comes to a sterling equivalent of £649.8m.
Not surprisingly Take (52) is a legend in Japan. He is married to popular actress and singer Ryoko Sano, his face is on posters in cities and at racecourses, he's been the 'pin-up' of racing for years and enjoys the status of a saint in in his homeland. Take is approaching 4,300 career winners.
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Norihiro Yokoyama, Masayoshi Ebina and Yuichi Fukunaga, all from Japan, fill the next three positions in the Top 5, while the mentioned Velasquez, a Puerto Rican by birth, breaks the sequence. Velasquez, despite riding 2000 winners more than the log leader, has banked $430-million less. He trails Take by over $300-million in gross stake earnings.
Other names our readers will be more familiar with are Javier Castellano (Venezuela), who like Velasquez plies his trade in the United States (8
th place) and Hall Of Fame Jockey Mike Smith (USA), who is in 11
th spot with earnings of about $333-million .
Frenchman Christophe Lemaire, who has done a lot of his riding in Japan, boasts $287-million from only 1,347 career winners, another reflection of the strength of Japanese racing. Lemaire occupies 17
th spot in the Top 20 to break the Japanese dominance in the second half of the log.
World famous celebrity jockey Frankie Dettori, for all his world travels, sits far off in 37
th spot with most of his fees earned in the UK. His income reflects a figure just north of $200,000, though it is conceivable that if one were to add his book and TV documentary deals, product sponsorships and his restaurants, Dettori may well be a Top 20 contender.
Canadian Russel Baze, the winningmost jockey in history with an astonishing 12,842 winners, is in 43
rd spot with his career earnings a margin below $200,000. Having ridden more than 8,000 more winners than log-leader Take, we again get an idea of how much harder Baze has had to work for his cash!
US champion Irad Ortiz Jr, with 2,669 winners and three straight Eclipse Awards to his name, is a jockey likely to make rapid progress up the log in the next decade. The Puerto Rican, aged 30, has a few decades of opportunities yet to come. He’s in 42
nd place now, with $200,000 in the bank, but that figure could well double in the next 5-10 years.
South African stars Michael Roberts (retired, 3000-plus winners) and Piere Strydom (5,000 plus winners), would have absolutely no inch to stand back for in terms of ability but while their official career earnings are unknown, neither are likely to make the Top 100 on the log due to the weak rand and comparatively poor prize monies offered throughout their times in the saddle. Both earned well in their respective overseas riding spells (Roberts won the UK Title in 1992), but, as the table shows, a long and consistent career in Japan is what any jockey aspiring riches should be aiming at!
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