Riding horses as a child inspired Fernando De La Cruz to enroll in Peru's famed jockey school at age 16, and like fellow graduates Rafael Bejarano, Edgar Prado, and others, he has established himself early as a jockey to watch.

De La Cruz finished the two-year jockey school program in 2006 and rode professionally in Peru for six months before a spill left him with fractured vertebrae. He was out of action about seven months but used the time wisely; while in the hospital he completed paperwork to come to the United States at the invitation of trainer Barbara McBride.

De La Cruz arrived in the U.S. in April 2007, winning 35 races at Indiana Downs in his first meet. He moved on that year to Ellis Park and then Hoosier Park, finishing among the top 10 riders at both tracks. Still an apprentice when he arrived at Turfway in November 2007, he finished fourth in the Holiday Meet. He graduated from apprentice to journeyman on January 31, 2008, and finished on the leaders' list for the 2008 Winter/Spring Meet, a performance he repeated in the 2009 Winter/Spring Meet.

Through mid-July 2009 De La Cruz had more than 280 wins and nearly $3.5 million in purse earnings. Among his wins are two blacktype events, the Indiana Stallion Stakes and Michael G. Schaefer Mile, both at Hoosier Park in 2008.

Leandro Gonçalves learned to ride and handle horses starting at age six when his father moved the family to a farm in São Paulo where he was working. By age nine Gonçalves was riding Quarter Horse races. "The owner was looking for a small boy to ride, and I was only about 29 kilos (65 pounds)," he said. "In those races every horse ran in a lane with rails on both sides, so I just had to hang on." He won his first race.

Describing himself as very competitive with a great love for horses, Gonçalves went to a local training center at age 14 to work as an exercise rider. A year later, in 1998, he earned admission to the jockey school connected to São Paulo's Cidade Jardim racetrack. After a required four months of classroom and hands-on work, students advance to riding races, and their graduation date depends on how quickly they win. Gonçalves proved himself the leading apprentice and graduated in 15 months.

Gonçalves raced in Brazil from 1998 to 2004 and then emigrated to England with an eye toward eventually riding in the United States. After working as an exercise rider and jockey, winning six of 78 races, he came to California in October 2005, rode for a short time at Del Mar and Fairplex, and then moved to Mountaineer.

At that point, Gonçalves decided to step back, work as an exercise rider, and study the riding styles of top jockeys in the U.S. Eighteen months later he returned to race riding, arriving at Turfway Park on the last day of the 2007 Winter/Spring Meet. He won his first race back. He plans to continue riding the Kentucky and Indiana circuits and would like to ride eventually at Arlington Park.

Through mid-July 2009 Gonçalves had more than 400 career wins, including six stakes won since he returned to riding in 2007, and purse earnings of more than $4.5 million. He cracked Turfway's leading riders list for the first time in the 2008 Holiday Meet, finishing seventh, and was second to Victor Lebron in the 2009 Winter/Spring Meet.

That Brian Hernandez Jr. decided to become a jockey was nearly inevitable. He not only was born in Louisiana, which seems to grow jockeys like Kansas grows corn, but also is the son of a jockey, Brian Hernandez Sr. His younger brother, Colby, also entered the family business, finishing his apprentice year in November 2007.

Brian Jr. grew up with horses on the family farm, rode mules and Shetlands at Louisiana's bush tracks at age 10, and moved up to galloping horses for trainer Del Angell at age 12. When he turned 18, in November 2003, he began riding races for Angell at night after school was over for the day. He earned his first win that same month and spent the rest of his senior year competing against his dad at Delta Downs. His first stakes win came in January 2004 aboard Fuse It in the Camelia Stakes, also at Delta.

After graduating from high school in 2004, Hernandez moved his tack to Kentucky. By year's end he had won 243 races, including four stakes, and the Eclipse Award as the year's outstanding apprentice. He earned his first graded stakes, the Indiana Derby (G2) aboard Cielo Gold, in 2006. His first stakes win at Turfway came in the 2008 Turfway Prevue aboard U. S. Cavalry. The 2008 fall meet leading rider title was his first at Turfway, and he also was leading rider at the 2008 Kentucky Downs meet.

Hernandez credits his dad with teaching him how to ride and particularly how to be patient in races. Also among his strengths is spatial awareness, the ability to sense the positions of other riders as a race unfolds.

Hernandez spends three racing seasons in Kentucky, moving to Oaklawn Park or Fair Grounds for the winter. Through mid-July 2009 he had more than 700 career wins, among them 22 stakes victories in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia, Indiana, and Kentucky, and purse earnings of more than $17 million.

Victor Lebron grew up riding pleasure horses on his father's farm in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. St. Croix has a small racetrack, the Randal "Doc" James, but it wasn't until Lebron saw the Kentucky Derby on television that he thought of becoming a jockey. "I was about eight or nine years old," he said. "I saw the action, the purse, the riding—it became one of my dreams."

At 14 Lebron started galloping at the St. Croix track and he rode one race there. Then a friend put him in touch with an agent in Ohio and Lebron moved to the U.S. in 2005 at age 20. Unlike many young riders, Lebron did not spend time working on the backside but went straight into race riding.

Since coming to the U.S., Lebron has ridden primarily in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. He clinched his first riding title at the 2007 Indiana Downs meet, his second at Turfway for the 2008 Winter/Spring Meet, and his third at the 2008 Ellis Park meet. He added Turfway's 2009 winter/spring title as well despite sitting out the last nine days with an ankle injury sustained in a post parade accident.

Lebron won his first two stakes, the Shelby County and the William Henry Harrison, on back-to-back days in May 2007 at Indiana Downs and repeated with Liepers Fork in the 2008 William Henry Harrison.

Through mid-July 2009 Lebron had more than $9.3 million in purse earnings from more than 740 wins. Among them are 20 stakes, including his first graded event, the 2008 Gardenia Handicap (G3) at Ellis Park. He has six stakes wins at Turfway, including repeat scores in the Likely Exchange in 2008 and 2009.

The son of former jockey David McKee, McKee grew up in Hamersville, Ohio, a hamlet east of Cincinnati. He began riding in 2002 at River Downs and finished the meet as leading rider, in the process breaking Steve Cauthen's 1976 track record for most wins by an apprentice. He next moved to Kentucky, where in the fall he was Turfway's leading rider and second among riders at Churchill Downs. McKee finished 2002 as a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the year's outstanding apprentice. In 2004 he added leading rider titles at Oaklawn and the Churchill Downs fall meet.

Returning to Turfway, McKee was leading rider for the 2007 Holiday Meet and on March 30, 2008, posted his 1,000th career win. Through mid-July 2009 he had 45 stakes victories and purse earnings of more than $28.3 million. He earned the first of his 11 graded stakes wins in the 2003 Firecracker Handicap (G2) at Churchill Downs.

Among standouts who won graded stakes with McKee in the irons are Greater Good (2004 Kentucky Cup Juvenile, 2004 Kentucky Jockey Club, and 2005 Rebel); Grand Reward (2005 Oaklawn Handicap); Lawyer Ron (2006 Risen Star, 2006 Rebel, and 2006 Arkansas Derby); and Lady Joanne (2006 Golden Rod).

In addition to Greater Good's 2004 Kentucky Cup win at Turfway, McKee won that year's Kentucky Cup Sprint (G3) with Level Playingfield and the 2005 Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies with Beau Dare. He also was aboard Level Playingfield in 2005 and 2006 for consecutive Marfa Stakes trophies and guided Tax Refund to win the 2006 Holiday Inaugural Stakes.

For Orlando Mojica, race riding is family business. His father, Rafael Mojica Sr., is a retired jockey, and his brother, Rafael Jr., rode the New York-New Jersey circuit before moving his tack to Kentucky. Orlando came to the United States in 2000, riding at Garden State Park. When he rode his first winner, half of a coupled entry, his brother was aboard the other half—and came in second.

Mojica moved to the Kentucky circuit in March 2001 and finished second in Turfway's Fall Meet while still an apprentice. He earned his first stakes win and his first meet title, tying Sidney LeJeune, at Indiana Downs in 2003. He claimed the title outright at Hoosier Park that same year. Consistently successful throughout his career, Mojica won the Ellis Park title in 2007, the Hoosier Park titles in 2007 and 2008, and the Indiana Downs title in 2008.

Through mid-July 2009, Mojica had more than 1,300 career victories and purse earnings of nearly $18 million. Eight of his 25 career stakes wins have come at Turfway, including the 2008 John Battaglia Memorial with Absolutely Cindy, the only filly ever to win that race, and the 2009 Bourbonette Oaks (G3) with Hot Cha Cha, the jockey's first graded win.

Tom Pompell got his first taste of riding growing up on the Illinois farm where his maternal grandfather, Gerald DeLong, worked for Lee Hooker as trainer and farm manager. "My grandfather had been a jockey and two of my uncles (Gary DeLong, now a trainer, and Terry DeLong) were jockeys, and they would throw me up on anything," said Pompell. "I didn't think about being a rider then. I was just a little kid, and I was a little scared of the horses." Pompell's father, Bobby, also was a jockey.

In the early 1990s Pompell moved to Kentucky to rub horses for Angel Montano Sr. at Ellis Park. He set his sights on riding, and on a visit home spoke with trainer Eddie Essenpreis. Essenpreis needed a groom at Fairmount Park, and Pompell agreed to take the job if Essenpreis would teach him to ride. He spent about a year riding at the trainer's farm and in 1996 started galloping at Fairmount. When Essenpreis learned he was also riding races at fairs, he offered to name him on horses. Pompell took out his license in September 1996 and won with his very first mount at a pari-mutuel track.

Pompell was Hoosier Park's leading apprentice in 1997 and led all riders there in 2006. In 1998 and 2000 he was leading rider at Fairmount, where he once rode seven winners in one day. In 2001 he moved to Tampa Bay Downs, where he eventually rode first call for trainer Don Rice. When Rice retired in 2007, Pompell and his wife, Lesalene, a trainer, bought an Indiana farm convenient to Indiana Downs, Hoosier Park, and Turfway.

The 2008 Holiday Meet riding title is Pompell's first at Turfway. Through mid-July 2009 Pompell had more than 1,900 wins and purse earnings of nearly $19 million. Among his 30 stakes wins are three at Turfway, the Valdale and Cincinnati Trophy with Valentine Fever and the Queen aboard Pola’s Place, all in 2008.

Rodney Prescott grew up around horses and as a youngster competed in barrel races, chariot races, and pole bending contests. After graduating from high school, he was introduced to racing when Quarter Horse rider Carter Rilie showed him around bush tracks in Illinois and helped him land his first job galloping horses.

Prescott first worked with Thoroughbreds at River Downs as a groom for the late Barbara Holbrook, for whom he rode his first mount and, a month later, his first winner. Prescott was leading apprentice at River Downs in 1994 and was honored with the Rodney Dickens Award, presented by the River Downs jockey colony to the rider who shows outstanding sportsmanship and ability during his first season.

Prescott has ridden successfully in Ohio, Kentucky, and particularly in his native Indiana, where he has won leading rider titles twice at Indiana Downs and once at Hoosier Park. He has one leading rider title at Turfway, for the 2002 Holiday Meet, and was second among all North American jockeys by wins in 2005. Through mid-July 2009, Prescott had more than 2,500 wins, more than $26.4 million in purse earnings, and 34 stakes wins, including Turfway's Wishing Well (2002), Gowell and Hansel (2005), Forego (2005 and 2009), and Tejano Run and Magic City Classic (2007).

Diego Rodriquez learned about horses from his father and grandfather, riding pleasure horses on the latter's small farm in Guanajuato, Mexico. He came to the United States in the early 1990s to join a brother who already had secured work in Ocala, Florida. Two other brothers have since come to the U.S. to work in Ocala's Thoroughbred industry.

Rodriguez got his start in Ocala by grooming horses at Gold Coast Farm, and after five years began galloping the farm's horses in preparation for the sales. He next learned to breeze horses at the sales. He took out his jockey's license in 2007 and headed to Kentucky, scoring his first career win at Churchill Downs in November of that year.

Rodriguez joined the Turfway Park jockey colony for the 2007 Holiday Meet as an apprentice. He finished the subsequent 2008 Winter/Spring Meet as a journeyman ranked seventh among all Turfway riders. Through mid-July 2009 he had more than 100 wins and purse earnings of nearly $1.4 million.

At 16 Otto Thorwarth had no thoughts of race riding when he picked up a part-time job walking hots for Frank Brothers at Oaklawn Park. But he discovered an innate rapport with horses, and others soon began encouraging him to ride. Always competitive, he played several sports in high school, and by his second year at Brothers' barn he had decided to "give it a shot."

After Thorwarth graduated from high school, Brothers sent him to Two Creek Ranch in Texas to learn to break babies. The farm manager, Cheryl Mallow Asmussen, also taught him to ride. After a year of breaking and galloping, Thorwarth rejoined Brothers' stable at Gulfstream Park and Keeneland. Then, while in New Orleans to work a filly for trainer Al Stall, he met Hoss Inman. Inman was the first trainer to put Thorwarth on horses, naming him in training races, and Thorwarth returned with him to Oaklawn to begin his career as a jockey. He won his very first race, and in the Dixie Belle Stakes that same day finished second by a nose to Pat Day.

Thorwarth rode at Oaklawn and on the Kentucky and Ohio circuits from 1991 through the mid-1990s, earning titles at Ellis Park, Beulah Park, and River Downs. He then moved to the East Coast, where he successively rode first call for Neil Howard, John Servis, and Richard Small. He returned to the Midwest in the late 1990s and was especially successful at Remington Park.

By 2005 Thorwarth had a young family and was ready for a break. He earned his license as an EMT and considered entering seminary. Then, living out his faith as a Christian, he began to sense a call back to race riding. "I fought it about six months," he said, but eventually he was sure the time had come. Away from riding about two years, he started again by working horses at Oaklawn throughout December 2006.

Thorwarth then moved his family to Vevay, Indiana, close to several tracks. He started riding at Beulah "to get the feel back" and was the Ohio track's leading rider his second year back.

Thorwarth returned to Turfway for the 2008 Winter/Spring Meet. After leading that year's Fall Meet standings from the first day, he missed the title when Brian Hernandez Jr. topped him by one win on the last day of the meet.

Through mid-July 2009 Thorwarth had more than 1,300 wins and earnings of more than $13.6 million. He has 13 stakes wins, including the 2008 Weekend Delight at Turfway, and one graded event, Ellis Park’s 2004 Gardenia Stakes (G3).