ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Garrett Gomez has won the George Woolf Memorial Jockey award in a nationwide vote of his fellow riders.
Gomez will receive the honor at Santa Anita on March 20.
He outpolled jockeys Joe Bravo, Javier Castellano, Corey Lanerie and Gallyn Mitchell.
Gomez, who led the nation’s riders in purse earnings from 2006-09, rode Blame to a narrow victory over Zenyatta in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic despite an injured shoulder. He also won two other Breeders’ Cup races.
Gomez overcame substance abuse issues that sidelined him in 2003 and ’04.
The Woolf award is named for one of the greatest jockeys of his era. Woolf died after a riding accident at Santa Anita in 1946.
