9/12/2025

(Auburn, WA) Here are year-end Jockey awards and our final Power Ranking of the season. It was a very talented jockey’s room in 2025. We saw a lot of new faces and the competition was fierce. Let’s get to it!

The Champion

Kevin Krigger never wavered and rode hard and consistently for the entire season. He won $2,500 claimers up to 2 stakes races with 6 2nd’s in the big races. Krigger is a fan favorite because they knew he would try every time. This was his 26th year of riding in the United States after growing up in the Virgin Islands and beginning his riding career there.

Krigger began his U-S career at Thistledown’s near Cincinnati in 2001. It didn’t take long for Krigger toi record his 1st win aboard a 20-1 $3,500 claimer named He Nussing, owned and trained by Cynthia Bayley. Krigger burst on the scene with his apprentice bug rewarding his backers with a $43.20 pay-off on the $2 win.

By the end of 2001 Krigger made his way to the Westcoast and began riding at Golden Gate. He liked the west coast and stayed riding 2002 at Goloden Gate, Santa Anita, Hollywood, Del Mar, Fairplex and made his first showing at Emerald Downs. 

Krigger won on his very first mount at Emerald on September 13, 2002 aboard 2-1 favorite It’s All About Me for trainer Tim McCanna and owner Allen Hodge. The 8k claimer rolled to a 5+ length win beating some of our favorite names from the past at Emerald. Amir Cedeno, Gallyn Mitchell, Ricky Frazier, Juan Gutierrez and Sandi Gann.

In 2003, he began at Golden Gate then picked up his tack and went as far east and south as he could to Gulfstream Park. He would tride at Calder then Mountaineer before heading back to the west coast. He rode a couple of days at Emerald including a mount in the 2003 Longacres Mile on Sabertooth but finished 9th.

In 2004, he began on the west coast and rode at Santa Anita, Del Mar, Golden Gate and rode most of the summer at Emerald Downs. He would finish 6th in the standings with 64 wins from 359 rides.

Krigger would be back for the full season in 2005 and he won his first Jockey’s Championship with 126 wins, topping Ricky Frazier who had 107. Krigger would travel and ride at tracks all over the country adding Churchill, Keeneland, Suffolk, Indianapolis, Hoosier and many more. 

But Emerald Downs was always a place he felt at home and could never fully shake the NW summers. Coming back this year he was all about winning his 2nd Emerald Downs riding Championship and that’s exactly what he did. Kevin Krigger has chalked up 1,236 career wins from 8,611 rides for a 14% career win rate. Add 1,237 places and 1,185 shows for a 42% top 3 career mark and nearly 23.6-million dollars in career earnings he has his pick of where he can ride.

We are lucky to have Kevin choose to come to our little corner of the world and hopes he comes back in 2026 to defend his title. We had a chance to sit down with Krigger before the races on Sunday and talk about this season. Krigger is a veteran but you can see his competitive side is still burning bright. More on Kevin below but here is our conversation.

Kevin Krigger talks with ESN

Eli Sports Special Awards

The Lindy Award

Frank Alvarado was voted the winner of this year’s Lindy Award. Alvarado received the Lindy Award for sportsmanship and accomplishment throughout the 2025 season, as voted by the Emerald Downs’ jockey colony. Alvarado, 56, has ridden 15 winners in his first season in the Northwest, boosting his career total to 4,109 wins and over $90 million in purses.

The Bookend Award

Silvio Amador wins the Bookend award which can only be won when you win the 1st race of the season and the last race. Amador accomplished this by winning the 1st race on Saturday April 27 aboard 3-2 2nd favorite Summanus getting up by a nose in a 1st race of the season that truly set the table for the kind of season this would be.

Amador then finished the season with a convincing 3 length win on Pop Chart in the 418th race of the 2025 season. Track Photographer Reed Palmer snapped Silvio’s win to begin and end the season for our “Bookend Award”.

The Fast Finish Award

Allyssa Morales takes our “Fast Finish” Awards. After riding just 5 mounts from May to August 1st and not hitting the board and then trips to Los Alomitos and Del Mar in the mix,  Morales returned on Saturday August 16. and raced the final 11 days at Emerald Downs. In her 1st ride back she won on 33-1 Poker Alice setting an new season high pay for the $2 win. This was the final race on the Saturday card.

The next day she was in the 1st race and completed her own personal Daily Double bringing Betty Ryano off the pace to dead-heat with Cantputapriceonfun with Manny Americano. A week later she scored with 54-1 Stay Lit, smashing the $2 high pay with a $109 return. She would add another 3 wins with her final win on closing day aboard Grease Missile, the only winner she had that was less than 8-1 at 2-1.

Morales finished the final 11 days with a 33 6-1-4-6 record, winning at 18%, top 3 at 33% and superfecta finish rate of 52%. Her average odds on her 6 winners was 20-1 and without Grease Missile at 2-1 her winners were an average of 23-1. Her other mounts were also regularly big odds. Allyssa is oour “Fast Finisher” for the year.

Newcomer of the Year

We had several new full-time riders this season but David Haldar stood out to us. Haldar came from the New York area and made an impact immediately. He won a Stakes race on Clocisconnection in the Budweiser. Haldar rode from start to finish and logged 187 mounts and finished with a 18-26-23-32 record for a 10% win rate, 36% top 3 and 53% top 4. He finished tied for 7th in the wins standings and was 7th in earnings with 336k.

Under the Radar Award of the Year

Adrian Castellanos began riding at Emerald Downs in July coming over from Canterbury Park. Castellanos stepped right in and really heated up late finishing with an impressive run. Castellanos finished the year in 6th place with 25 wins. Castellanos went 25-15-15-9 from 114 rides. That’s a 22% win rate, 48% top 3 and 48% top 4 finish rate.

Castellanos really exploded in the final 3 weeks winning 11 of his 25 races that shot him up the standings into the top 10. He won 44% of his 25 wins in the final 3 weeks. He had the 2nd highest win percent of the season only trailing Kevin Krigger’s 23% and was the only other rider over 20%.

Castellanos quietly and “under the radar” finished strong and was a great edition to the jock’s room.

Top Apprentice

No question the top apprentice was Manny Americano where he finished 2nd behind Krigger in the standings with 66 wins. He finished the year with a record of 66-59-71-54 from 357 rides, the most mounts by any jockey. His win percent was 18% with a 555 trifecta finish and 70% top 4 finish rate.

Americano’s biggest win of the year and of his career was taking the Longacres Mile aboard Arrowthegreat. Americano lost his apprentice bug in August and finished the season as a journeyman. Americano began riding just last year and got his maiden win at Emerald Downs before winning the riding title at Turf Paradise. He gave Krigger all he wanted in the race for the title.

Most Improved

Our most improved rider of the season went to Kiaman McGregor. Last year, his 1st at Emerald Downs McGregor was 5-9-19 from 80 starts for 6% win rate and finished 16th in standings with a little more than 106k in earnings.

This year, first of all, he won a Stakes race on Blackberry jam in the King County Express Stakes. He would ride 136 mounts, tripled his win total to 15 and finiahed 15-19-14-18 for an 11% win rate, 35% top 3 and 48% top 4 finish. He finished 11th in the standings just missing the top 10 by 1 win and earned more than 238k more than doubling his run from last year.

Geezer Award

Isaias Enriquez has been riding since 1990 with his first race on November 16 at Turf Paradise. It would take him just 5 races to get the buckets of water dumped on him with his 1st ever win aboard Justa Stepahead in a 6k allowance race. Since that 1st win he’s added 1,768 more winners circle pictures for a career total of 1,769-1,960-1,944 record from 17,467 career mounts. That’s a 10% career win rate. 

Enriquez also is a former Emerald Downs Jockey Champion winning the 2013 title with a 101-83-73 record from 458 rides defeating all-time Emerald leading winning rider Juan Gutierrez.

Last year, Enriquez finished 23-23-19 from 124 rides for a 19% win rate and earned $427,569. This season he only rode 79 races for a 14-14-10-6 record winning at an 18% clip. He won 4 stakes races tying Carlos Montalvo for most stakes wins. He earned $309,115 this season. Last yeat he earned an average of $3,448 per mount, this year with 43 fewer rides he was good for $3,912 per ride. Enriquez showing he still knows how to get the job done after 35 years of being in the saddle. A great year for one of our favorites Isaias Enriquez.

Top Stakes Rider

Our top Stakes rider went to Carlos Montalvo. Carlos tied with Isaias Enriquez for most Stakes wins of 2025 with 4. Montalvo went 4-4-4-3 from 18 starts in Stakes races for a 22% win rate, 67% top 3 finish and a blazing 83% superfecta clip. He also led all riders in stakes earnings with $185,225. Montalvo won with Aloha Breeze in the Washington Legislators Stakes and Falling Leaves in the Angie C on July 20th.

He was hoping for a big mile day believing he had at least one win of the 6 Stakes races. He got shut out but placed in the top 4 5 of the 6 races. He then finished with a flourish on closing day winning the Distaff on Aloha Breeze and then handing trainer Tom Wenzel and owner George Todaro their 4th Gottstein win in 5 years with Robin Racer.

Montalvo didn’t have the number of rides this year overall but he remains the one to beat in the big races.

Final Top 15 Jockey Power Rankings for 2025

We usually write a little something for each rider on their week. But we have already written so for those we will no but will add our notes on those wh have not been already mentioned.

Finals Rankings

1 Kevin Krigger

2 Carlos Montalvo

3 Silvio Amador

Silvio Amador did open and end the season with our bookend award but he had a great year. Amador truly wanted to get 3rd in the standings but could not catch Alex Cruz by 2 wins. Amador was successful on all levels and consistency was his trademark. He won 3 Stakes races 2 aboard Si That Tiger and 1 on Attracted. He was 4th in stakes earnings and finished 4th in overall earnings with a little more than 575k. “Batman” had an outstanding meet.

4 Manny Americano

5 Isaias Enriquez

6 Adrian Castellanos

7 Alex Cruz

Alex Cruz came in looking for his 6th straight riding championship. Instead he had one of the roughest meets of his entire career getting tossed off at least two rides and was taken to the hospital on mile day losing his chance to ride on any of his stakes mounts that day. Through it all he still had big days and when you weren’t paying attention he’d win. Cruz ended up 3rd overall with 37 wins. Despite the rough season and the uptick in really good riders, Cruz still remained a force to be dealt with. We won’t be surprised to see him back next year and win #6.

8 Julien Couton

Julien Couton returned to the Auburn oval and had a solid season. He got the call to replace Jose Zunino as the regular rider of Slew’s Tiz Whiz winning the Governor’s and the Muckleshoot Classic for his 2 stakes wins. He was 8th in total money earned but 5th in Stakes pourses. Great season for Julien.

9 Kevin Orozco

This was a bounce back year for Kevin Orozco. After winning just 18 in 2024, Orozco got things going and scored 25 wins good enough to be 5th in the standings. He picked a bad time to injur himself by slicing his foot in July. He couldn’t take the ride on Precise Timing in the Kent Stakes. Francisco Monroy got the ride and won at 10-1. Despite that setback, Orozco was on nearly 100 more starts, added 9 more wins and earned about 50k more than last year.

10 David Haldar

11 Frank Alvarado

Not only did Frank Alvarado win the Lindy Award, he was here all season to ride his first full season in Auburn. Alvarado has been riding since 1990 and has more than 90-million dollars in career earnings. The veteran looks to be getting more selective in his rides and got aboard 141 mounts winning 16, tied for 9th. He had 2 places and 2 4ths from his 8 stakes mounts. Alvarado was always dangerous when he was in the race.

12 Juan Gutierrez

The winningest rider in Emerald history added more wins to his overall total with a 16-13-10-16 record from just 90 starts winning at an 18% rate. Guti also served as his owqn agent and kept his client list to just a few. Gutierrez knows every nook and cranny of this track and he continues to ride like the all-time leader.

13 Kiaman McGregor

14 Allyssa Morales

15 Francisco Monroy

Francisco Monroy was having a great season his first time at Emerald and had just won a Stakes race on last year’s horse of the meet, Precise Timing when he got a call from his home in California. He needed to return to help with some family issues and left but finished the year in 14th overall with the Stakes win. It would have been fun to see where her would have finished had he been able to stay.

Final Jockey Standings for 2025 Wins and Earnings

Finals Jockey Stakes Standings and Earnings

www.elisportsnetwork.com