Craig Perret

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Craig Perret
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Occupation: Jockey
Birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana
United States
Birth date: February 2, 1951
Career wins: 4,400+
Major Racing Wins & Honours & Awards
Major Racing Wins
Gazelle Handicap (1968)
Arlington-Washington Futurity (1971, 1986)
Flamingo Stakes (1976)
Spinster Stakes (1976)
Travers Stakes (1976, 1990)
Vosburgh Stakes (1977, 1991)
Florida Derby (1977)
Haskell Invitational Handicap (1981, 1987, 1991)
Laurel Futurity (1986, 1989)
Acorn Stakes (1987)
Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (1987, 1990)
Pimlico Special (1988, 1992)
Vagrancy Handicap (1988)
American Derby (1989)
Monmouth Oaks (1989, 1994)
Old Hat Stakes (1989)
Coaching Club American Oaks (1990)
Jerome Handicap (1990)
Withers Stakes (1990, 1993)
Carter Handicap (1991, 1993)
Dwyer Stakes (1991)
Frizette Stakes (1991)
Wood Memorial Stakes (1991)
Morris Handicap (1992)
Cowdin Stakes (1993)
Molson Million (1993)
Hopeful Stakes (1996)
Saranac Handicap (1997)
Clark Handicap (2001)

Canadian Classic Race wins:
Queen's Plate (1992, 1993)
Prince of Wales Stakes (1994)

American Classics / Breeders' Cup wins:
Belmont Stakes (1987)
Kentucky Derby (1990)
Breeders' Cup Sprint (1984, 1990)
Breeders' Cup Juvenile (1989)
Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (1996)

Racing Awards
U.S. Champion Apprentice Jockey by earnings (1967)
Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey (1990)
George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award (1998)
Honours
Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame (2006)
Significant Horses
Honest Pleasure, Bet Twice, Unbridled
Strike the Gold, Alydeed, Peteski
Forty Niner, Pine Bluff, With Approval

Craig Perret (born February 2, 1951, in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American thoroughbred horse racing jockey. He began riding horses at age five and by seven was riding quarter horses in match races. At age fifteen he began his career in thoroughbred racing and in 1967 was the leading apprentice jockey in the United States in terms of money won.

In 1987 Perret rode Bet Twice to victory in the Belmont Stakes. In 1990, aboard Unbridled, he won America's most prestigious race, the Kentucky Derby, and in 1993-94 won back-to-back Queen's Plates, Canada's most prestigious race. In addition, Perret won the Breeders' Cup Sprint in 1984 and 1990; the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in 1989; and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in 1996. Of his more than 4,400 career victories to date, he has also had major stakes race wins including the Florida Derby, Acorn Stakes, Pimlico Special, Travers Stakes, Haskell Invitational Handicap and the Wood Memorial Stakes.

He has earned a number of other accolades including the 1990 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey of the year, and in 1998 his peers voted him the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award.

Craig Perret and his family live on a farm in Shelbyville, Kentucky and operate a small thoroughbred breeding operation.

In 2006, Craig Perret inducted in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and was nominated for induction in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

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