2025 Preakness Jockeys: What You Need to Know

The 2025 Preakness Stakes happens at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, on Saturday, May 17th, 2025. The second jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown, it drew a field of nine of the best three-year-olds in the country. Knowing about the horses and the trainers and following breaking horse racing news leading into the Preakness Stakes can get you part of the way there. But another way to get an edge when you are betting the race is to get to know the jockeys in this year’s Preakness field.

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Preakness Stakes Jockeys

These are the jockeys assigned to horses in the 2025 Preakness Stakes, including major facts about their careers and a detailed record of their riding history in Triple Crown races.

Post 1: Flavien Prat - Goal Oriented, 6-1 ML

Flavien Prat and Goal Oriented united for the first time on the Kentucky Derby undercard on May 3. Riding him forward throughout, he guided the lightly-raced Not This Time son to his second victory in as many career starts, and returns to the saddle with this fast-rising colt for the Preakness Stakes.

Prat has emerged as one of the top riders in the country in recent years. He had the best year of his career in 2024, and no jockey is showing up more consistently in the biggest races than he is. In 2024, he set new records for both stakes wins (82) and graded-stakes wins (56) in a single year, en route to earning the Eclipse Award for the year’s top jockey.

The 2025 Preakness Stakes will be Prat’s third. His Preakness debut came in 2021 with Rombauer, who rallied to a 3 ½-length upset over Midnight Bourbon and Medina Spirit for trainer Michael McCarthy. In his second Preakness ride, with Catching Freedom in 2024, he rallied for third behind Seize the Grey and Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan.

Prat has also seen success in the other Triple Crown races. He has ridden in the Kentucky Derby eight times, finishing in the top three in six of those outings. His one win came in 2019 with 65-1 outsider Country House, who rallied late and was put up to first after Maximum Security was taken down for interference. In the most recent Kentucky Derby, Prat overcame trip trouble and a far-outside gate to get also-eligible Baeza home third behind Sovereignty. Though Prat has yet to win the Belmont, he has never been worse than fourth in four starts, with his best finish when Hot Rod Charlie was runner-up behind Essential Quality in 2021.

Post 2: Umberto Rispoli - Journalism, 8-5 ML

Umberto Rispoli has ridden morning-line favorite Journalism in five of his six races, only missing his maiden win at Del Mar in November. Rispoli guided the son of Curlin to victories in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), San Felipe (G2), and Santa Anita Derby (G1), as well as to a runner-up finish behind Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby. Originally from Italy, he started regularly riding in the United States at the end of 2019 and has quickly made a name for himself as a top jockey on the Southern California circuit. He has won 12 Grade 1 races in that time, including the Santa Anita Derby with Journalism and the Kilroe Mile (G1) with Formidable Man this year.

2025 will be Rispoli’s first year riding in the Preakness Stakes. The only Triple Crown race in which he has ridden is the Kentucky Derby. He ran 14th with Brooklyn Strong in 2021 and then ninth with Endlessly in 2024. His best Kentucky Derby showing to date came this year when he was runner-up with Journalism.

Post 3: Nik Juarez - American Promise, 15-1 ML

Nik Juarez has been riding in races since 2013, and came to national prominence when riding the consistent multiple graded-stakes winner Valid in the mid-2010s. Though he has yet to win at the top level, he has ten graded-stakes wins, including a pair at the Grade 2 level. He rode Actress (dam of 2025 Dubai World Cup winner Hit Show) to victory in the 2017 Black-Eye Susan (G2) at Pimlico Race Course, and also won the Baltimore-Washington International Turf Cup (G2) that same year with Projected.

Juarez has ridden American Promise in his last two starts. Two back, he guided the D. Wayne Lukas trainee to a 7 ¾-length victory in the Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs. Lukas kept Juarez in the irons for the 2025 Kentucky Derby, his first call in any Triple Crown race. After racing close to a sharp early pace, American Promise flattened out to finish 16th behind Sovereignty.

American Promise will be Juarez’s first-ever Preakness starter, just as he was Juarez’s first-ever Kentucky Derby runner. He has never ridden in the Belmont Stakes.

Post 4: Saffie Osborne - Heart of Honor, 12-1 ML

Not only does Saffie Osborne make her first start in a Triple Crown race with Heart of Honor in the 2025 Preakness Stakes, but she also makes her first start in the United States there. However, she has ridden Heart of Honor on another big stage: the Dubai Carnival meeting at Meydan. Saffie Osborne, daughter of Heart of Honor’s trainer Jamie Osborne, rode the horse to a second-place finish a head behind Galactic Star in the Al Bastakiya, and then second by a nose behind Admire Daytona in the UAE Derby (G2).

Osborne began riding professionally in 2020. Other than Heart of Honor, her most prominent horse has been Random Harvest, with whom she won Group 3 races in both Italy and England. Osborne became the first female jockey to win at Meydan when she won the 2024 Lord Glitters Handicap with Ouzo. She would become the first woman to win the Preakness Stakes if she wins with Heart of Honor.

Post 5: Raul Mena - Pay Billy, 20-1 ML

Raul Mena began his riding career in 2011 in Chile, and has been riding in the United States since 2015. Now doing much of his riding in the mid-Atlantic, he has found the national spotlight this year riding a pair of talented three-year-olds for trainer Michael Gorham. He rode Omaha Omaha to money finishes in the Jerome, Withers, and Virginia Derby. Meanwhile, he was also the regular rider for Pay Billy at Laurel.

Mena earned his first-ever North American stakes win on March 22, when Pay Billy romped to a 3 ½-length victory in the Miracle Wood at Laurel. That race was the local prep for the Federico Tesio on April 19. In the Tesio, Mena won at the stakes level for the second time in his career, when he guided Pay Billy to a hard-fought 1 ½-length win.

The 2025 Preakness will be Mena’s first start in a Triple Crown race, his first start in a Grade 1 race, and only his fifth start in a North American graded-stakes race. His best finishes came in his first two starts in such company: he finished fifth with Venom Girl in the 2017 Royal Delta (G2) and also with Completed Pass in the 2019 Parx Dash (G1). His only graded-stakes start in 2025 before the Preakness came in the Wood Memorial (G2), where he finished ninth with Omaha Omaha.

Post 6: Irad Ortiz, Jr. - River Thames, 9-2 ML

Irad Ortiz, Jr. rode River Thames for the first time in the Blue Grass (G1) on April 8, where he finished third, just three-quarters of a length behind Burnham Square. Pletcher keeps him in the saddle for the Preakness. Ortiz is one of the most successful jockeys in the game, with five Eclipse Awards for outstanding jockey between 2018 and 2023. In a riding career that dates back to 2011, Ortiz has won 106 times at the top level, most recently with Mindframe in the Churchill Downs (G1) on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

Ortiz has ridden in the Preakness Stakes six times before. Though he still seeks his first victory in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, he has piloted the runner-up twice. He rode Midnight Bourbon to a second-place finish behind Rombauer in 2021, and Blazing Sevens to a second-place finish behind National Treasure in 2023.

As successful as he has been in big races, Ortiz still seeks his first money finish in the Kentucky Derby. He has run off the board with all nine of his starters, with his best finish ever being a fourth-place finish with favored Improbable in 2019.

In the Belmont, however, Ortiz has shined bright. In ten starts in the third and final jewel of the Triple Crown, he has won twice: with Creator in 2016 and Mo Donegal in 2022. He has also finished second three times with Dr Post in 2020, Forte in 2023, and Mindframe in 2024. Dr Post, Mo Donegal, Forte, and Mindframe were all trained by Todd Pletcher—who also conditions his 2025 mount River Thames.

Post 7: John Velazquez - Sandman, 4-1 ML

John Velazquez takes the reins with Sandman for the first time in the Preakness Stakes, as the horse’s Kentucky Derby rider, Jose Ortiz, had already committed to ride Clever Again. Though Velazquez is new to riding Sandman, he is the most experienced rider in the 2025 Preakness field. A member of the Hall of Fame, Velazquez went to jockey school in Puerto Rico and started riding on the mainland in 1990. He won Eclipse Awards for outstanding jockey in 2004 and 2005, leading the country in earnings both of those years. He has won 6,700 North American races and counting, including a dizzying 228 at the Grade 1 level.

Velazquez has ridden the Preakness 13 times. His first Preakness Stakes winner came in his most recent try: in 2023, he rode National Treasure to frontrunning victory in the second jewel of the Triple Crown. He had previously finished second three times: with Animal Kingdom in 2011, Itsmyluckyday in 2013, and Authentic in 2020.

In the Kentucky Derby, Velazquez has guided his mount to the blanket of roses three times in 26 starts. He won his first Derby in his 13th try with Animal Kingdom in 2011. He also won the race with Always Dreaming in 2017 and Authentic in 2020. He crossed the wire first once more with Medina Spirit in 2021, though the horse was disqualified after a positive post-race test. Velazquez has 27 starts in the Belmont Stakes, a race he has won twice. He rode Rags to Riches to a thrilling score over Curlin in 2007, and returned to the winners’ circle in the Test of the Champion with Union Rags in 2012.

Post 8: Jose Ortiz- Clever Again, 5-1 ML

The younger brother of River Thames’ jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., Jose Ortiz is an elite jockey in his own right. He has been riding professionally since 2012, and won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in 2017. He has 64 Grade 1 victories on his ledger, most recently in the Arkansas Derby (G1) with Sandman. However, since Sandman was belatedly committed to the Preakness Stakes, Ortiz does not return to the saddle.

Ortiz had already committed to ride Clever Again for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Ortiz has ridden Clever Again for two of his three starts: a maiden win in his three-year-old debut February 23 at Oaklawn, and then his victory in the Hot Springs Stakes there March 30. He won both of those races in front-running fashion, and earned the automatic Preakness bid with the win in the Hot Springs.

The ride with Clever Again will be Ortiz’s sixth start in the Preakness Stakes. He finished off the board in his first four starts, but his fifth time in the race yielded his first Preakness winner: he guided lightly-raced Early Voting to victory for Chad Brown in 2022.

Ortiz has ridden ten times in the Kentucky Derby, hitting the board twice. His best finish so far came with Good Magic in 2018, who was runner-up to eventual Triple Crown winner Justify. The next year, he guided Tacitus to a third-place finish behind Country House. Ortiz has won the final jewel of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, once in his nine tries. That victory came in 2017 with Tapwrit. He has ridden the runner-up in the Belmont three times as well: Gronkowski in 2018, Tacitus in 2019, and Nest in 2022.

Post 9: Luis Saez - Gosger, 20-1 ML

Luis Saez takes the call with Gosger for the first time in the Preakness Stakes. Coming from Panama to start riding in the United States in 2009, Saez has emerged as one of the nation’s best riders. He has been in the top 10 in earnings every year since 2015 and the top 10 in wins every year since 2017, and has amassed 42 Grade 1 wins in North America. His most recent came May 2, when he rode Good Cheer to victory in the Kentucky Oaks.

Saez has only ridden in the second jewel of the Triple Crown three times before. He is still looking for his first Preakness Stakes winner, though in his very first try back in 2018, he rode long shot Bravazo to a good second-place finish behind eventual Triple Crown winner Justify.

At Churchill Downs, Saez has finished in the top three once in 12 starts in the Kentucky Derby. That happened in 2021 with Essential Quality, who crossed the wire a close fourth but was placed third after the disqualification of Medina Spirit. Essential Quality is the same horse who has given Saez his first Triple Crown race victory—in the 2021 Belmont Stakes. In seven starts in the Test of the Champion, he has won one other time as well, in 2024 with Dornoch. His other money finish in the Belmont came in 2023, when he rode Tapit Trice to a third-place finish.

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