By US Racing Team
Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado, who won the 2006 Kentucky Derby aboard Barbaro and thwarted two Triple Crown bids by winning the 2002 and 2004 Belmont Stakes aboard Birdstone and Sarava, has retired at the age of 56.
After amassing 7,119 North American wins (eighth all-time) and $272,008,849 in earnings (ninth all-time), Prado’s last race was on Jan. 6, when he finished seventh in a maiden claimer at Gulfstream Park.
Prado said he made the decision to retire on Father’s Day but did not announce it until earlier this month.
“It was getting harder and harder and I was wasting the time that I spent with my family, with my loved ones,” he said.
Prado, who left his native Peru to ride in the United States in 1986, first found success in Maryland, where he was leading jockey six times. After moving his tack to New York at the behest of trainer John Kimmel in 1999, he went on to win 11 riding titles at NYRA tracks. He also led the nation in victories in three times, from 1997-99.
Winner of the Eclipse Award as North America’s outstanding jockey, Prado was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 2008.
Among his top horses were sprint champion Runhappy, multiple graded stakes winner Tale of Ekati, Florida Derby winner Harlan’s Holiday, and Benny the Bull, 2008’s champion sprinter. He was aboard 70-1 Sarava in the 2002 Belmont in which War Emblem was seeking the Triple Crown, and memorably piloted Birdstone to a one-length victory over overwhelming favorite Smarty Jones in the 2004 edition.
Prado probably is best-known as the regular rider of Barbaro, who seemed poised to win the Triple Crown in 2006 only to break down a few yards after leaving the starting gate in the Preakness. Prado later wrote a book about the horse entitled “My Guy Barbaro: A Jockey’s Journey Through Love, Triumph, and Heartbreak with America’s Favorite Horse.”
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
