Calvin Borel Biography

Calvin Borel is the veteran Louisiana jockey who won the Kentucky Derby in 2007, 2009 and 2010. Borel began riding in local races at age eight. He dropped out of school after the eighth grade and began working with horses in earnest, riding on Louisiana tracks and then all over the south. He has been quoted as saying, “All I ever wanted to be was a jockey. A lot of kids make plans to be firemen, cowboys or astronauts, but I knew by eight that I wanted to ride races.” By the year 2005, after three decades of racing, Borel had ridden over 4000 winners and was one of the top jockeys in America. His 2007 Kentucky Derby win aboard Street Sense made Borel a celebrity. Days later he was invited to a dinner at the White House honoring Queen Elizabeth II, who had attended the Derby in person. In 2009 he again won the Kentucky Derby, this time aboard the 50-1 long shot Mine That Bird. In the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, Borel switched to the filly Rachel Alexander, who then beat Mine That Bird by 3/4 of a length. The next year, Borel again won the 2010 Kentucky Derby at 9-1 odds aboard the horse Super Saver.