Calvin Borel

Sport: Horse Racing

Induction Year: 2017

 Induction Year: 2017

CALVIN BOREL — A St. Martin Parish native, Borel is a three-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey who briefly retired in March 2016 with 5,146 career wins (27th all-time in North American racing history) and more than $127 million in purse money from 34,915 mounts. As of August, he has resumed riding. A fan favorite known for his colorful personality, Borel, who started what would be a 25-year riding career at Delta Downs, earned the nickname “Bo-rail” because of his penchant for settling in along the rail in a race in order to cover the shortest distance possible.  Borel recorded an unprecedented feat in piloting three Kentucky Derby winners in a four-year span — starting with Street Sense in 2007 and winning in back-to-back tries aboard 50-to-1 shot Mine That Bird (the second-biggest upset in Derby history) in 2009 and Super Saver in ’10.  He has spent much of his riding career in Kentucky, where he has won numerous racing titles. All told, he has brought home 1,189 winners in 20 years at Churchill Downs — including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Street Sense in 2006 and ranks second all-time at the venerable oval behind Pat Day (2,482 wins). Borel put together the ultimate racing “double” in 2009, when, the day before riding Mine That Bird to a 6¾-length win (the largest margin of victory in the Kentucky Derby in 63 years), he won the Kentucky Oaks (the female version of the Kentucky Derby) aboard Rachel Alexandra — becoming only the seventh jockey to do that. Borel guided her to a win over the boys two weeks later in the Preakness and was also in the saddle when Rachel Alexandra became the first distaff winner of the Grade I Woodward at Saratoga. Borel, who won 2010 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in a vote of his peers, earned his 5000th career win on March 7, 2013 — the 26th North American jockey to reach that plateau. That same year, he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.  Born 11-7-1966 in St. Martin Parish.