- Hodges Photography

Rosie Napravnik likely to become Fair Ground’s first female jockey title winner; Jockey Albarado readies for return

By Graham Ross, Staff Writer

NEW ORLEANS - March 14, 2011 – Good morning, New Orleans! Do you know who your leading rider is this winter? Here at Fair Grounds, the nation’s third oldest Thoroughbred race course and a local landmark for well over a hundred years, the soon-to-be crowned jockey champion at the 2010-2011 meeting which ends in two weeks will assuredly not be crowned as king but instead as a queen.

That’s because the jockey who has taken over a commanding lead in the local standings during the second half of the season may be listed in the program as the non-gender-specific A. R. Napravnik, but that jockey is actually the young woman named Rosie who is in her first full season riding in the Crescent City. No female has ever earned a jockey championship in the storied history of Thoroughbred racing in New Orleans.

Rosie won five races Saturday at Fair Grounds, joining Miguel Mena and John Jacinto as the only three riders to accomplish that feat this season.

Also, in an additional post script, the 23-year-old native of Morristown, New Jersey, has 92 wins to her credit entering Sunday’s racing day, and is on a pace to become the first Fair Grounds jockey to win more than 100 races during the season since Joe Talamo rode 118 winners here four years ago.

Those able to catch her act before Fair Grounds brings down the curtain on its current meeting March 27 will be witnessing history.

ROBBY READIES FOR RIDING RETURN AT FAIR GROUNDS – Jockey Robby Albarado, the only rider in Fair Grounds history to win seven local jockey championships but had this season compromised by a broken heel sustained Jan. 2, began galloping horses again Saturday morning at Fair Grounds and is pleased with his progress as he nears his pending competitive comeback.

“It felt good to start getting back up on horses yesterday,” said Albarado Sunday morning, “and I got on a few more this morning. I’m feeling pretty good about it. I just don’t want to rush things too much.”

Albarado, 37, born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana, rode over a hundred winners in six of the seven seasons he has earned leading rider honors locally.