47.0°,
Mostly Cloudy Napravnik rides in elite company
Top female jockey joins NYRA circuit, enjoys strong Belmont meet
It’s been a quick rise to stardom for jockey Rosie Napravnik, who continues to build on a tremendous career after winning aboard her first-ever mount, Ringofdiamonds, in 2005 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md.
Already with riding titles at Pimlico, Laurel Park, Delaware Park and the Fair Grounds, the 24-year-old New Jersey native and Lynbrook resident brought her talents to the NYRA circuit full-time this year and rode 35 victories at the Belmont spring/summer meet and totaled more than $2.2 million in purses.
“New York is an extremely tough and competitive jockey colony,” said Napravnik, who rode 19-1 longshot Five Sixteen to a fifth-place finish in last month’s Belmont Stakes. “Owners and trainers have so many talented riders to choose from, but I think I’ve had a great meet,” she added. “It feels like I just started riding yesterday, and I’m very happy that I’ve come this far.”
Surrounded by horses her whole life — her mother runs an event and sports-training facility, while her father works as a farrier and owns a farm — Napravnik was riding before her third birthday and said when she was 7 she knew she wanted to become a jockey. “Every memory I have of growing up includes horses,” she said.
In 2002, when she was 14, Napravnik attended the Belmont Stakes and watched from trackside as War Emblem’s bid for the Triple Crown was spoiled by 70-1 longshot Sarava. Ten years later, and a little more than a year after riding Pants On Fire to ninth place in a field of 19 in the Kentucky Derby, the best all-time finish in the race for a female jockey, she experienced Belmont from a much different perspective.
“It was unbelievable,” she said of her Belmont Stakes debut. “Five Sixteen ran really well and I’m curious to see what he’ll do next.”
Next for Napravnik is historic Saratoga, which begins its 40-day meet this Friday. She heads to the Spa with 1,349 career wins — none bigger than May 5 of this year when she became the first female jockey in 138 years to win the Kentucky Oaks, the premier race for three-year-old fillies, aboard Believe You Can.
