NEWS
Jockey Piermarini earns 2,000th win
Posted: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 11:30 AM
Jockey Tammi Piermarini became the fifth female rider to record 2,000 career victories on Monday with a win aboard four-year-old Performing Magic filly Sugar Trade at Suffolk Downs.
“It feels excellent to get this win at Suffolk Downs,” Piermarini said. “This is home. Most of these trainers and owners are who got me here.”
Piermarini, 44, began her riding career in 1985 and rode her first winner, Go Darby and Joan, on August 30 of that year at the East Boston, Massachusetts, track. She is one of three women to win a riding title at Suffolk and is a two-time winner of the Eli Chiat Memorial Outstanding Jockey Award, which is presented by the New England Turf Writers Association.
Piermarini joins Julie Krone (3,704) Rosemary Homeister Jr. (2,438), Patti Cooksey (2,137), and Vicki Baze (2,019) among female riders to eclipse the 2,000-victory mark.
“My next stepping-stone is to move up to fourth all-time, then keep going,” Piermarini said. “I may never get to Julie [Krone]. She is my idol.”
Piermarini currently is Suffolk’s leading rider by wins (60) and earnings ($588,632) for the 2011 meeting.
