Deshawn L. Parker

Inspired by his father who passed away in 2021, jockey Deshawn Parker won his 6,000th career race at Horseshoe Indianapolis in June 2022. Only 20 other riders in history have recorded as many wins, and Parker is the first African-American jockey to reach that milestone.

In 2010, Parker won 377 races and became the first African-American rider since 1895 to lead all American jockeys in victories. Parker then duplicated the feat in 2011 when he amassed 400 wins. He added another coveted achievement to an incredible career when he was selected in 2021 by a vote of jockeys nationwide as the winner of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, which recognizes those riders whose careers and personal character garner esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred racing.

Parker began his riding career in 1988 as a teenager, winning his first race at Thistledown in Ohio. His father, Daryl, was a longtime track official in Ohio. Parker was the leading rider at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia for many years before moving his tack to Horseshoe Indianapolis in 2016.