69-Year-Old Seasoned Jockey Adds Rare Feat to Equestrian Career After Earnings of Whopping $51,246,724

Equestrian sports is full of surprises and achievements. The people’s passion for the sport led them to achieve unbelievable feats. Perry Ouzts’s love for riding has made him the fifth-winning jockey of all time in North American history. It is a rare feat for the 69-year-old, who has moved ahead of the late David Gall, who retired in 1999.

The jockey, who is in his 51st year of competition, is among the three jockeys who are placed in the top ten winningest but are not included in the Hall of Fame of the massive sport. The rider has also achieved the target he was looking to achieve last year.

Perry Ouzts’s rare equestrian feat

Perry Ouzts was participating in a six-furlong, $9,100 claiming race at Belterra Park as per the report by Horse Racing Nation. He was abroad with the 3-year-old filly Lanalikeschoochoos, trained by his long-time friend Larry Smith. It was his equestrian career‘s 53,006th start, which he won by five and three-fourths of a length, claiming his 7,397th career victory. The victory moved him above David Gall and placed him in fifth place on the North American list. He now just sits behind Pat Day, who has 8803 career wins. The list is led by Russell Baze with 12,842 wins. In the international ranking, Ouzts moved to the ninth position, and it has only one active jockey apart from him, who is the leader of the list, the Brazilian Jorge Ricardo, with 13,236 wins.

Perry Ouzts’ win has elated his friend Larry the most because he achieved that mark on his trained horse. After his win, Larry said, “To have him set that milestone on one of my runners just makes it all that much better“. Belterra Park held a winner’s circle ceremony for Outzs to recognize his milestone win, and the ceremony included a video featuring Hall of Fame riders and others as a tribute to them. After leaving the winner’s circle, Ouzts, who earned more than $50 million in his career, went to the jockey’s quarters to change his clothes in preparation for the next race. A documentary was made on him named Ironman, which got the 2016 Eclipse Award for best documentary. In that documentary, he said the famous line,“I’m gonna ride this train til they throw me off”. It seems Ouzts is carrying forward that spirit and continuing his equestrian journey.

His stellar career which is worth over millions

Perry Ouzts is from Lepanto, Arkansas. He grew up in an equestrian environment where there was racing. He is also the cousin of Hall of Fame jockey Earlie Fires. Ouzts won his first career win in 1973 at Beulah Park, and since then he has been a consistent leader on the Ohio circuit and has also ridden in Kentucky and the Midwest area. Ouzts has won 86 stakes in his career since 1976, but he doesn’t have any graded stakes wins. In 2002, he won the John W. Galbreath Memorial, which was part of the Best of Ohio State showcase program.

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In 2007, Outzs won the $200,000 Cradle Stakes aboard Old Man Buck. In his entire career, he ranked ninth in terms of wins in 2012. This year, he had 258 starts, won 60 races, and added $859,613 to his total earnings to date.

Perry Ouzts’ courage and determination have achieved the rarest feat and engraved his name in equestrian history forever.

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