Most jockeys are self-employed and, as such, rely on riding fees and a percentage of any prize-money won by their mounts for their income. Riding fees and prize-money are a matter of public record, but details of contracts, or ‘retainers’, to ride for individual owners or trainers are not. Thus, the exact earnings of some of the leading jockeys in the world remain a closely guarded secret.
It is also worth noting that Japan is, far and away, the biggest and most lucrative jurisdiction in the world, so it should come as no surprise that most of the highest-earning jockeys in history are hardly household names outside their native country.
According to the latest ‘Jockey Rich List’, published by the in-house editorial team at the trusted OLBG sports betting website, the highest-earning jockey in history is Yutaka Take, whose 4,495 wins, at the time of publication, had yielded $950 million in prize money. A legend in his homeland, Take has a host of Group 1 and Grade 1 winners to his name, worldwide, including Agnes World, trained by Hideyuki Mori, in the July Cup at Newmarket in 2001.
The next three positions on the all-time list are also occupied by Japanese jockeys, namely, Norihiro Yokoyama, Yuichi Fukunaga and Masayoshi Ebina; the latter is probably best remembered for his association with the prolific El Condor Pasa in the late nineties. The first non-Japanese name on the list is that of Puerta Rican John R. Velazquez, who has plied in his trade in the United States for the last three and a half decades and has six Triple Crown victories to his name.
