Rosemary Homeister Jr.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 5, 1972 Hollywood, Florida, U.S. |
| Occupation | Jockey |
| Horse racing career | |
| Sport | Horse racing |
| Career winnings | $51,607,123[1] |
| Career wins | 2,784 from 20,020 starts[1] |
Major racing wins | |
| Selected major wins: Desert Vixen Stakes (1998) | |
| Racing awards | |
| Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey (1992) Hialeah Park leading jockey (2001) | |
| Honors | |
| Calder Race Course Hall of Fame (2006) | |
Significant horses | |
| Cloudy's Knight, Alexia, Ms Brookski, New Economy, Supah Blitz, No Inflation, Include Betty | |
| Updated on August 13, 2026 | |
Rosemary Homeister Jr. (born July 5, 1972) is a retired American jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. During a career spanning 1992 to 2015, with interruptions in 2004–06 and 2011, Homeister won 2,784 races from 20,020 starts and earned $51,607,123 in purses.[1][2] She retired as the second-winningest female jockey in North American Thoroughbred racing history, behind Julie Krone.[2]
Homeister became the first woman to receive the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey, for her 1992 season.[3] She later became the first woman both to ride in and win the Clásico del Caribe, aboard the Panamanian filly Alexia in 2001, and in 2003 became the fifth woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby.[4][5]
Early life
Homeister was born in Hollywood, Florida, on July 5, 1972, into a horse-racing family. Her father, James Homeister, was a jockey who won more than 500 races, while her mother, Rosemary Homeister Sr., also rode professionally before becoming a Thoroughbred trainer.[2]
Homeister began exercising horses and helping to break young Thoroughbreds while still a teenager.[2] Because her mother shared the same first name and was active in racing, the younger Homeister adopted the professional name "Rosemary Homeister Jr." to distinguish between them.[2]
Riding career
Apprentice career
Homeister began riding professionally as an apprentice at Calder Race Course in 1992. She won 172 races and earned $1,769,063 during her first season while winning the riding title at Calder's Tropical meet.[2] She also became the leading apprentice during her early seasons at Monmouth Park.[2]
Homeister was initially runner-up in voting for the 1992 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey. The award had been given to Venezuelan rider Jesús Armando Bracho, but his previous professional riding experience in Panama subsequently made him ineligible for apprentice status. In November 1994, Homeister was formally named the recipient of the 1992 award.[3] She thereby became the first female jockey to receive an Eclipse Award.[2]
Homeister developed into a consistent full-time rider during the 1990s. She won at least 100 races in ten of the eleven seasons following her 1992 debut and established herself particularly on the Florida circuit.[2]
Among her early stakes victories was the 1999 Princess Rooney Handicap. By the beginning of the following decade, Homeister had become one of the most successful female jockeys in the United States.
2000–2003
Homeister led all female jockeys in North America by victories in both 2000 and 2001.[2] In 2001, she became the only woman to win a riding title at Hialeah Park Race Track.[2]
That December, Homeister traveled to Puerto Rico to ride the Panamanian filly Alexia in the Clásico del Caribe at El Comandante Race Track. Homeister was the first woman ever to ride in the event.[4] Alexia defeated the male runners, making Homeister the first female jockey to win the race and Alexia the first filly since 1996 to do so.[4]
In 2002, Homeister won two important Grade 2 races. She rode Ms Brookski to an upset victory in the Davona Dale Stakes at Gulfstream Park and partnered New Economy to win the La Prevoyante Handicap at Calder.[6][7]
In 2003, Homeister received the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Award for courage.[8]
The same year, trainer David Braddy selected her to ride Supah Blitz in the 2003 Kentucky Derby. Homeister became the fifth woman to compete in the race, following Diane Crump, Patricia Cooksey, Andrea Seefeldt and Julie Krone.[5] Supah Blitz finished thirteenth in the race won by Funny Cide.[2]
First retirement and comeback
Homeister announced her retirement from riding in November 2004. At the time, she had won 1,726 races, including 953 on the south Florida circuit.[9]
Her retirement lasted approximately eighteen months. After returning to the racetrack as an exercise rider in 2006, Homeister began receiving offers for race mounts and decided to resume her riding career at Calder.[9]
That year she was inducted into the Calder Race Course Hall of Fame.[10]
On December 18, 2008, Homeister recorded her 2,000th career victory aboard Rustyshouldrun at Tampa Bay Downs.[8] She had also finished the 2007–08 Tampa Bay Downs meeting as the track's second-leading jockey.[11]
2009 season and Cloudy's Knight
Homeister enjoyed another major period of success in 2009. On July 20 at Colonial Downs, she rode Gambles List to her 2,138th career victory, surpassing P. J. Cooksey to become the second-winningest female jockey in Thoroughbred racing history behind Julie Krone.[12] She also won the Colonial Downs riding title that year.[13]
Among her prominent mounts in 2009 was nine-year-old gelding Cloudy's Knight, trained by Hall of Famer Jonathan E. Sheppard. The horse had returned from more than a year away from racing following a tendon injury.
Homeister and Cloudy's Knight won the Grade 3 Kentucky Cup Turf Stakes at Kentucky Downs in September.[14] The following month they won the Grade 3 Sycamore Stakes at Keeneland.[15]
The pair then contested the Breeders' Cup Marathon at Santa Anita. Cloudy's Knight took the lead in the stretch but was caught at the finish by Man of Iron, losing by a nose.[16]
Cloudy's Knight returned to win the Valedictory Stakes at Woodbine in December and concluded his season by defeating Grade 1 winner Presious Passion in the Grade 2 W. L. McKnight Handicap at Calder.[17][18]
Homeister also won the Grade 3 Kent Stakes aboard No Inflation during the 2009 season.[2]
Later career
Homeister remained a leading rider at Tampa Bay Downs during the early 2010s. In January 2011 she won five of six mounts on a single card, equaling her personal best and tying the track record for the second-most victories by a jockey on one program.[19]
Homeister temporarily stopped riding in 2011 during her pregnancy. She returned to competition later that year and resumed a full racing schedule in 2012.[2] In May 2012 she earned her 2,500th career victory aboard Eastern Precipice at Arlington Park.[20]
She finished 2012 with 125 victories and $3,280,647 in earnings, one of the strongest seasons of her later career.[2]
Homeister's final graded stakes victory came on April 4, 2015, when she rode Include Betty in the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park. After racing last in the field of eleven, Include Betty rallied to win by a neck.[21]
Homeister rode her final race on September 26, 2015, finishing second aboard Spark Kit at Arlington Park.[2] She ended her career with 2,784 wins from 20,020 starts, 2,802 second-place finishes and 2,736 thirds, with total mount earnings of $51,607,123.[1] Her career included more than 100 stakes victories, thirteen of them in graded stakes.[2]
Later life
Following her retirement from race riding, Homeister became involved in health and fitness. She became a certified personal trainer and fitness nutrition specialist and competed in fitness competitions.[22]
Awards and honors
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Rosemary B. Homeister, Jr". America's Best Racing. TJC Media Ventures. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Ehalt, Bob (March 27, 2026). "Jockey Rosemary Homeister Jr.: Breaking New Ground for Women". America's Best Racing. TJC Media Ventures. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Apprentice Jockey Gets Her Due With Belated Eclipse". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. November 10, 1994. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- 1 2 3 Welsch, Mike (December 12, 2001). "Homeister and Alexia roar in Puerto Rico". Daily Racing Form. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- 1 2 "Field set for 129th Kentucky Derby". ESPN. April 30, 2003. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- ↑ "Ms Brookski Wins Davona Dale Stakes". Associated Press. February 24, 2002. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- ↑ "New Economy Rebounds in La Prevoyante". BloodHorse. December 28, 2002. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- 1 2 3 Jensen, Don (December 27, 2008). "Successes piling up for Homeister". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- 1 2 Welsch, Mike (June 9, 2006). "Homeister coaxed out of retirement". Daily Racing Form. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- 1 2 "Homeister, Plesa Among Calder Hall of Fame Inductees". BloodHorse. June 19, 2006. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- ↑ "History". Tampa Bay Downs. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- ↑ "Homeister Becomes Second Leading Female Rider". BloodHorse. July 21, 2009. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- ↑ "Homeister happy to be back". BloodHorse. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- ↑ "KY Cup Turf: Cloudy's Knight Sharp in Return". BloodHorse. September 19, 2009. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- ↑ "9-Year-Old Cloudy's Knight Wins Sycamore". BloodHorse. October 22, 2009. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- ↑ "2009 Marathon". Breeders' Cup. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- ↑ "Cloudy's Knight Has Last Word in Valedictory". BloodHorse. December 6, 2009. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- ↑ "Cloudy's Knight Shines in W.L. McKnight". BloodHorse. December 26, 2009. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- ↑ McGee, Marty (January 14, 2011). "Five-win day lifts Homeister in Tampa jockey standings". Daily Racing Form. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- ↑ "Jockey Rosemary Homeister Jr gets career win 2,500". Paulick Report. May 22, 2012. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- ↑ "Include Betty Goes Last to First in Fantasy". BloodHorse. April 4, 2015. Retrieved August 13, 2026.
- ↑ Voss, Natalie (November 6, 2018). "Lost And Found Presented By Horseware: Homeister 'Still On Go' In Retirement". Paulick Report. Retrieved August 13, 2026.