Laffit Pincay Jr.

     Laffit Pincay Jr. was born on December 29, 1946 in Panama City. He is considered the biggest Panamanian horse-racing pride. "The Corsair", as he is known since he arrived in the U.S. tracks, is a member of the American Horse Racing Hall of Fame, as well as in Panama.
     He made his debut on March 22, 1964, and won his first victory on March 28, 1964, with the same horse that debuted named "Huelen". The same year he won his first main event, "Clásico Independencia de Estados Unidos" with the horse “Alucinado II."
     Since 1965, he has been riding on the Presidente Remon racetrack in Panama City, he managed to enter to the elite group of riders who win over 200 races in a year, topping the statistics of riders with 249 victories in 696 opportunities.
     In Panama, he completed 1,395 rides, winning 449 races, 298 seconds, 216 thirds, 180 fourth places, and 258 times out of silver.
     In 1966, Pincay Jr. was hired by Fred W. Hooper, a prominent horseman, to ride and compete in races that were held in the United States. His first victory was on July 1, 1966, riding the horse "Teacher's Art", owned by Hooper, at Arlington Park in Chicago.
     His success in the United States can be summarized as follows: He set a record for most wins in a year by imposing 380 horses in 1971; He was inducted into the National Museum of Horse Racing and Hall of Fame in 1975 at 29 years old; He leaded all sums earned in the United States in seven times (1970 -1974, 1979, 1985), the horses that he rode generated revenues of $ 203 million; He won five times the "Eclipse Award”, top honor of American horse racing (1971, 1973, 1974, 1979 and 1985), more than any other rider in history; He got his win 8,834 on December 11, 1999 with "Nip Iris" in Hollywood to become the new leader among the riders in the world with the most wins in history, dethroning American rider Bill Showmaker who held a mark of 8,833 wins in his retirement in 1990.
     In 1980, Laffit Pincay Jr. was hired to ride the Mexican specimen “Pikotazo” at the “XIII Clásico Internacional del Caribe”, winning the race.
     He won four races of the U.S. Triple Crown: the Kentucky Derby "with" Swale "in 1984, the" Belmont Stakes” three times consecutive with "Conquistador Cielo" (1982), "Caveat" (1983) and "Swale "(1984).
     Laffit Pincay Jr. also won seven races of the millionaire series called "Breeders Cup": Classic for 3 million dollars with "Skywalker" in 1986, the "Distaff" twice, "Bayakoa" in 1989-90, the "Juvenile", three times with "Tasso" (1985), "Capote" (1986) and "Is It True" (1988) and "Juvenile Fillies" with "Phone Chatter” in 1993.
     On February 13, 2002, with the success of "STAGE PLAYER" in the second race of the day, the number of wins of Pincay Jr. reached the 9,300 dreamed goal victories.

     On April 29, 2003, almost 39 years after that first success, the Panamanian rider announced his retirement from the profession due to a physical injury caused in an accident while attending a horse race.