Rosemary Homeister, Jr.

Rosemary Homeister, Jr. (born July 5, 1972, in Hollywood, Florida) is an American jockey in thoroughbred horse racing. Both of Homeister's parents were jockeys, and as a result she grew up riding horses. Her mother is now a horse trainer at the Calder Race Course, where Rosemary won her first race as an apprentice jockey. In 1991, she briefly attended Broward Community College but left to develop a career in racing.

Homeister started her career working with horses as an exercise rider and breaking yearlings before beginning her riding apprenticeship in 1992. She met with great success that year, becoming the first female to win the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey in the United States. She was originally the runner-up, but winner Jesus Bracho of Venezuela was suspended, then surrendered his award for falsifying his racing papers. Two years later, she went to the awards ceremony to accept the award. Since then, Homeister has won more than 1700 races at tracks in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and along the East Coast of the United States from Florida to New York. In 1995, she and her mother were profiled by CBS News Sunday Morning.

In 2000 and 2001, she was the United States leading female jockey in wins. In 2003, she became only the fifth woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby, finishing 13th aboard Supah Blitz in a race won by Funny Cide.

Homeister retired in November 2004 after thirteen years of competition, having won 1,726 races from 12,907 starts. However, she returned to racing in June 2006 and on September 3 was inducted into the Calder Race Course Hall of Fame.

As of December 2006, she is divorced from jockey José Ferrer, according to an interview she gave TVG Network's Lady Luck.^[1]

At Tampa Bay Downs on December 18, 2008, Homeister won her 2000th race.^[2]

On February 11, 2011, she announced that she was pregnant and would not ride for an indefinite period.

Racing honors

Racing honors:

• 1992–1993 – Leading Apprentice Jockey at Monmouth Park
• 1992 – The first female to win the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey
• 1992 – Leading Rider at the Tropical at Calder Race Course Meeting
• 2000 – No. 1 in wins among female jockeys in the United States
• 2001 – First female jockey to win Puerto Rico's Clasico Internacional del Caribe
• 2001 – Only woman rider to win the Riding Title at Hialeah Park
• 2001 – No. 1 in wins among female jockeys in the United States
• 2002 – No. 1 in wins among female jockeys in the United States
• 2003 – First jockey to receive the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Award
• 2003 – 5th Woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby in 129 years (Supah Blitz) finished 13th
• 2004 – Retired from Horse racing for about 18 months
• 2006 – Inducted into the Calder Race Course Hall of Fame
• 2007–2008 – 2nd Leading Rider at Tampa Bay Downs
• 2008 – First woman to be Inducted into Puerto Rico's racing Hall of Fame on December 5
• 2008 – Won 2000th race on December 18, on "Rusty Should Run" for trainer Sam Cronk
• 2008 – Tampa Bay Downs Jockey of the Month – December 20, 2008
• 2008 – 3rd Leading female jockey in the country
• 2008–2009 2nd Leading rider at Tampa Bay Downs with over $1.1 Million in earnings
• 2009 – Colonial Downs – John D. Marsh Stakes ($50,000) on Hugo (Trainer Hamilton A. Smith), Daniel Van Clief Stakes ($50,000) on Pleasant Strike (Trainer Todd Pletcher) and The Da Hoss Stakes ($50,000) on Izzy Speaking (Trainer Hamilton A. Smith)
• 2009 – July 20 surpassed Patricia Cooksey to become the 2nd Leading Female Jockey of all time with 2,138 wins and counting.
• 2009 – Leading Rider at Colonial Downs
• 2009 – July 25 Won the $100,000 "Lady Canterbury Stakes" on Happiness Is for Thomas Proctor on Claiming Crown Day at Canterbury Park in Minnesota
• 2009 – August 23 won the Pearl Necklace Stakes $50,000 on Blind Date for Hamilton Smith at Laurel Park (1 mile on the dirt – sat just off the pace)
• 2009 – August 23 became the Second Leading rider at Laurel Park with 9 Wins and $219,330 in earnings.
• 2009 – September 5 Won the Kent Stakes Grade 3 $250,000 on No Inflation for Tom Proctor at Delaware Park (1¹⁄₂ Turf – wire to wire)
• 2009 – September 19 – Won the Kentucky Cup Turf Grade 3 $150,000 on Cloudy's Knight for Jonathan Sheppard at Kentucky Downs (1¹⁄₂ Turf – came from off the pace)
• 2009 – October 22 – Won the $125,000 Grade 3 Sycamore Stakes on Cloudy's Knight for Johathan Sheppard at Keenland (1¹⁄₂ Turf – came from off the pace to just get up by a head in the final strides)
• 2009 – November 7 – Finished 2nd (by a nose) in the Breeders Cup Marathon (Santa Anita) on Cloudy's Knight for Jonathan Sheppard. Most memorable racing experience of her career besides the 2003 Kentuck Derby.
• 2009 – December 17 – Won 4 races out of six on the day at Tampa Bay Downs
• 2009 – December 19 – Honored with Jockey of the month at Tampa Bay Downs
• 2009 – November – Winner of the $150,000 Valedictory Stakes with Cloudy's Knight at Woodbine Racetrack in Canada (1³⁄₄ on the poly track)
• 2009 – December 26 – Won the $150,000 Grade 2 W.L. McKnight Stakes on Cloudy's Knight. (1¹⁄₂ on the turf)
• 2010 – February – Won the $75,000 Suncoast Stakes on Diva Delight for trainer David Vivian – (1¹⁄₁₆ dirt)
• 2010 – February 20 – Won the $150,000 Tampa Bay Breeders Cup Stakes on Karelian for trainer Rusty Arnold (1¹⁄₁₆ Turf) – beat Gio Ponti by a nose.
• 2010 – March 13 – Won the $175,000 Florida Oaks Stakes Grade 3 on Diva Delight – (1¹⁄₁₆ dirt)

She has won 102 Stakes races, four being Grade 2's

Year-end charts

References