John R. Velazquez learned to ride in his native Puerto Rico and won his first race on January 3, 1990 at El Nuevo Comandante racetrack at the age of 19. Under the guidance of agent and Hall of Fame jockey, Angel Cordero, Jr., he moved to New York State where he has earned 24 riding titles at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course. Johnny was inducted into the National Racing Hall of Fame in 2012 and was elected into the Puerto Rico Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2006.
A winner of multiple Breeders' Cup races and the 2011 Kentucky Derby on Animal Kingdom, he has also won such graded stakes as the Kentucky Oaks, Blue Grass Stakes, Dubai World Cup, E. P. Taylor Stakes (twice), Whitney Handicap, Woodbine Mile, plus the Cigar Mile Handicap. Johnny has also had the mount on two-time Horse of the Year, Wise Dan for most of the gelding's starts over the last few years.
In 2004 and 2005 he earned the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey. He won the Bill Shoemaker Award in 2004 for top Breeders' Cup performance by a jockey, winning the Breeders' Cup Distaff with Ashado and the Breeders' Cup Sprint with Speightstown. In 2009, Velazquez, known at tracks as "Johnny V," was awarded the Santa Anita George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award.
In October 13, 2013, Velazquez became the all-time leading money winner among North American jockeys and in 2014 he became the all-time leading money winning jockey whose earnings surpassed $300 million. John has ridden more than 5,000 winners.
