Laffit Alejandro Pincay Jr.

Riding Career:

1966 - 2003

Birth Date:

12/29/46

Hall of Fame:

1975

Career Mounts:

48486

Career Wins:

9,530 (19.7%)

Significant Mounts

Autobiography, Bayakoa, Capote, Caveat, Chinook Pass, Conquistador Cielo, Cougar II, Desert Vixen, Gamely, Genuine Risk, Is It True, It's in the Air, John Henry, Landaluce, Perrault, Phone Chatter, Skywalker, Susan's Girl, Swale

Major Race Wins

Hollywood Gold Cup (-1, -1, 1970, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1982)

San Bernardino Handicap (1967, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1979, 1985, 1989)

Santa Anita Derby (1968, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1985)

Santa Barbara Handicap (1968, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1993)

Florida Derby (1974, 1984)

Whitney Handicap (1974)

Blue Grass Stakes (1974, 2001)

Del Mar Futurity (1976, 1983, 1985, 1987)

San Diego Handicap (1976, 1986, 1987, 1992)

Del Mar Debutante Stakes (1976, 1982, 1983, 1984)

Bing Crosby Handicap (1976, 1977, 1983)

Eddie Read Handicap (1978, 1984, 1987, 1991)

Woodward Stakes (1979)

Jockey Club Gold Cup (1979, 1987)

Del Mar Derby (1979, 1980, 1982, 1990, 1994)

John C. Mabee Handicap (1979)

Kentucky Oaks (1981)

Belmont Stakes (1982, 1983, 1984)

Del Mar Oaks (1983)

Kentucky Derby (1984)

Canadian International Stakes (1984)

Breeders' Cup Juvenile (1985)

Breeders' Cup Classic (1986)

Breeders' Cup Juvenile (1986)

Washington, D.C. International (1987, 1990)

Breeders' Cup Juvenile (1988)

Breeders' Cup Distaff (1989)

Clement L. Hirsch Handicap (1990, 1992)

Breeders' Cup Distaff (1990)

Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (1993)

Del Mar Handicap (1995, 2001)

Awards / Honors

George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award (1970)

United States Champion Jockey by Earnings (1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1979, 1985)

United States Champion Jockey by Wins (1971)

Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey (1971, 1973, 1974, 1979, 1985)

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame (1975)

Eclipse Special Award (1999)

Big Sport of Turfdom Award (2000)

Laffit Alejandro Pincay, Jr. is a retired jockey who was based primarily in the United States.

Career

Laffit Pincay began his riding career in his native Panama. In 1966, prominent horseman Fred W. Hooper and agent Camilo Marin sponsored him to come to the United States and ride under contract. He started his American career at Arlington Park in Chicago and won eight of his first eleven races. During his career, Pincay Jr. was voted the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1970 that honors a rider whose career and personal conduct exemplifies the very best example of participants in the sport of thoroughbred racing. In 1996, he was voted the Mike Venezia Memorial Award for "extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship". He has won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey on four occasions and was the United States' leading jockey seven times.

Personal Life

Pincay married his first wife, Linda, in 1967, with whom he had a daughter Lisa and a son Laffit III. Lisa is the mother to his two grandchildren, Madelyn and Mason. Linda Pincay committed suicide in January 1985. He has a son, Jean Laffit Pincay, with his second wife, Jeanine. Laffit Pincay III is a horse-racing commentator for HRTV and CBS Sports. In October 2007, he was loaned to ESPN to serve as the winner's circle interviewer at the 2007 Breeder's Cup at Monmouth Park. He currently resides in Arcadia, CA.

Awards and Records

In 2004, Hollywood Park Racetrack announced the creation of the Laffit Pincay Jr. Award to be presented annually on Hollywood Gold Cup Day that features the race he won a record nine times. The award was designed by American sculptor Nina Kaiser and is presented to someone who has served the horse racing industry with integrity, dedication, determination and distinction.

At the time of his retirement (in April 2003), he remained horse racing's winningest jockey, with 9,530 career victories. On December 1, 2006, passed Pincay on the all-time win list.

With his 8,834th win, on December 10, 1999 at Hollywood Park Racetrack in California aboard Irish Nip, he broke the career victory record previously held by Bill Shoemaker.

He won the Kentucky Derby in 1984 aboard Swale (horse) and also took three consecutive Belmont Stakes between 1982 and 1984.

Pincay was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1975.

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