Rajiv Maragh

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2009 Record: (1479-236-204-229)

2009 Earnings: $11,736,729

2009 Win %: 15% In-The-Money %: 45%

Height: 5'4"
Weight: 114
Born: July 9, 1985, Jamaica
Residence: Elmont, N.Y.
Family: single; father Collin was a jockey in his native Jamaica and later embarked on a training career in South Florida … Brother Shamir is 16 and is currently galloping horses and plans to become a jockey
Racing Career: Agent is Richard DePass ... Has never ridden in the Breeders' Cup . . . Rode Brave Victory to a seventh-place finish in the 2009 Belmont Stakes (G1), his first mount in a Triple Crown race ... Through Oct. 4, ranks 7th by North American purse earnings with $9,246,090, with 200 victories. He has been winning at a 17% clip, with 47% of his runners finishing in the top three ... Through Oct. 4, has 24 stakes wins, seven of them graded, including Grade 1 winners Music Note (Ballerina, Beldame), Seventh Street (Apple Blossom, Go For Wand) and Diamondrella (Just a Game). This is a better pace than last year, when he won a total of 21 stakes, six graded, all year ... Finished second in the 2009 spring/summer Belmont Park jockey standings with 71 wins and is the current leader at the fall meeting with 21 wins and $1,264,867 in earnings through Oct. 4.
Made a bold move to spend the 2008 summer in Saratoga after building up his business at Aqueduct over the winter … The decision paid off and he finished among the top ten in the standings.
Started Aqueduct’s inner track meet off on the right foot in 2008, winning five races for five different trainers in the first three days.
Took home leading apprentice honors at the Meadowlands in 2004 and was runner-up in overall standings there in 2005 and 2006 after moving from Florida.
Struggled to get good mounts in Florida, but caught the eye of retired Hall of Fame rider Angel Cordero Jr., who brought him to New York in 2004.
First winner was Pricedale Kid, at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 1, 2004.
Maragh grew up around horses but had to earn his high school diploma before his parents would allow him to ride competitively.
After graduation, began to work at farms in Florida and galloped horses for his father, who gave him his first opportunity to ride competitively.
Known as a devout student of the game, he studies the Daily Racing Form every day and can often be found watching replays in his spare time.