Deshawn L. Parker facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Deshawn Parker |
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|---|---|
| Occupation | Jockey |
| Born | January 8, 1971 Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Career wins | 6,000 |
| Major racing wins | |
| selected stakes wins: Autumn Leaves Stakes (2005) Labor Day Stakes (2007) Mountaineer Mile Stakes (2007, 2008, 2013) Best of Ohio Juvenile Stakes (2008) Hancock County Handicap (2008, 2009) Mountaineer Fall Stakes (2008, 2009) Panhandle Handicap (2008) Senator Robert C. Byrd Memorial Handicap (2011) John W. Galbreath Stakes (2012) Rose DeBartolo Memorial Stakes (2012) Miss Ohio Stakes (2012) Hoover Stakes (2012) Mountaineer Juvenile Fillies Stakes (2012) Cleveland Kindergarten Stakes (2012) Firecracker Stakes (2012) Royal North Stakes (2013) Tom Ridge Stakes (2014) West Virginia Governor's Stakes (2015) Green Carpet Stakes (2015) Howard B. Noonan Stakes (2015) Sam Houston Sprint Cup Stakes (2015, 2016) San Jacinto Stakes (2016) Indiana Futurity (2017) Crown Ambassador Stakes (2017) Hillsdale Stakes (2017) Florence Henderson Stakes (2017) Yellow Rose Stakes (2017) Spirit of Texas Stakes (2017) San Jacinto Turf Stakes (2017) |
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| Racing awards | |
| United States Champion Jockey by wins (2010, 2011) | |
| Honors | |
| Sam Houston Race Park Champion Jockey (2015) | |
| Significant horses | |
| Bernie Blue, La Chica Rica, Marina's Legacy, Texas Chrome | |
Deshawn L. Parker, born on January 8, 1971, in Cincinnati, Ohio, is a very successful jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. A jockey is a person who rides horses in races. Deshawn is known for being one of the best jockeys in the United States. He has won many races and holds two national championships.
On May 2, 2016, Deshawn Parker achieved a huge milestone. He became only the 32nd jockey in North American history to win 5,000 races. This is a very rare achievement in horse racing. Even more impressively, on June 21, 2022, he rode his 6,000th winner, a horse named For Mama. This made him one of only 21 jockeys ever to reach 6,000 wins.
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Deshawn Parker's Amazing Career
Deshawn Parker started his professional riding career in 1988. He is quite tall for a jockey, standing at 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 meters). Most jockeys are much shorter.
Early Years and Growth
In his first five years, from 1988 to 1992, Deshawn Parker won 60 races in total. He kept working hard and improving. The very next year, in 1993, he won 72 races, which was more than his first five years combined!
He continued to get better and better. In 2002, he started winning over 200 races in a single year. By 2008, he reached more than 300 wins in a year for the first time. He kept up this amazing pace for five years in a row.
Becoming a Champion Jockey
In 2010, Deshawn Parker won 377 races. This earned him his first national title as the United States Champion Jockey by wins. This was a special moment because he was the first African-American jockey to win this title in 115 years. The last time was in 1895, with a jockey named James "Soup" Perkins.
Deshawn Parker won his second national title in 2011, with 400 wins. He has won more races than any other African-American jockey in history.
Records and Recognition
On May 6, 2012, Deshawn Parker had an incredible day. He won six races on one racecard at Mountaineer Racetrack in New Cumberland, West Virginia. This track was his main base for many years. He is the all-time leading jockey in wins at Mountaineer Racetrack.
In 2012, the Jockeys' Guild honored him with the Laffit Pincay Jr. Award. This award recognizes jockeys who show great integrity and dedication. Deshawn Parker has also been a finalist twice for the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, which is another high honor in horse racing.
