Corey J. Lanerie

Born on November 13, 1974, Corey Lanerie grew up in Lafayette, La., a region revered for Cajun cuisine and known as a starting point for some of America’s best jockeys.

Lanerie’s grandfather had horses and his father, Gerald, was a jockey who later became a trainer. Lanerie honed his race riding skills as a youngster in weekend races with few rules known as “bush races” or “the bushes.” He won his first official race on April 19, 1991, at Evangeline Downs in Louisiana.

In 2005, Lanerie's career went to a new level when he changed his summer circuit to Midwest tracks. In 2009, Lanerie picked up the first Grade 1 victory of his career – the Ashland Stakes at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington aboard Hooh Why – when the assigned jockey was unable to ride because of illness. Lanerie was nominated for the George Woolf Memorial Award that honors personal character on and off the track in 2011.

During the second decade of the 21st century, Lanerie became a perennial leading rider at iconic Churchill Downs. He swept the track's three racing seasons in 2019 – spring/summer, September, and November – to boost his total number of leading meet jockey titles at Churchill to 19. He also tallied his first two in-the-money finishes in Triple Crown races: second in the 2016 Preakness Stakes aboard Cherry Wine, and second in the 2017 Kentucky Derby on Lookin At Lee.