After becoming just the 10th jockey in North America to ride 7,000 winners by winning two races Oct. 20 at Presque Isle Downs, jockey Mario Pino said he would retire after riding there Oct. 21. The 60-year-old is booked on seven mounts Thursday at the Lake Erie, Pa., track.
"Today will be my last day riding racehorses," he told BloodHorse Thursday. "You know what, I kinda feel satisfied with my career. I really do. I feel like I did what I could do."
Over a career that began in 1977, Pino rode more than 42,000 horses, with his mounts making in excess of $131.2 million. His achievements, sportsmanship, and character also gained him entrance into the Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame and earned him a Mike Venezia Memorial Award and George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award.
He was based mainly in the Mid-Atlantic, becoming one of the region's top jockeys. He was the leading rider at Delaware Park in 1979 and 1980, and ranked in the top five among Maryland jockeys every year from 1979 to 2003, finishing as the leading rider in 1999 and 2002.
He rode seven winners on a single day at Colonial Downs in Virginia in 2002 and the following year had a six-win day at Laurel Park in Maryland.
He won 36 graded stakes, including three grade 1s. His most noticeable mount was Fox Hill Farms' Hard Spun , whom he rode to a runner-up finish in the 2007 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum Brands (G1), with the front-runner outlasting all but Street Sense under a rail-skimming Calvin Borel.
"I almost won the Kentucky Derby. Almost," Pino said, chuckling at how late-running Street Sense fortuitously advanced through traffic to catch Hard Spun.
Larry Jones, who trained Hard Spun, the eventual winner of the 2007 King's Bishop Stakes (G1) and Kentucky Cup Classic Stakes (G2), said of Pino, "You're not going to find a better human being."
Jones expressed delight at Pino's quick decision to ride off into the sunset after Thursday night.
"I knew he said he was going to get to 7,000 and quit, but I didn't know he was going to do it the (next) day he got to 7,000," Jones said, laughing.
Hard Spun's final start was a second-place finish under Pino to Horse of the Year Curlin in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic Powered by Dodge (G1) at Monmouth Park.
In recording his milestone victory Wednesday night, Pino's mount came on a different class of a horse, a $6,250 claimer named Enjoy the Music, but the win for trainer Matthew Kintz, who co-owns the horse with James Fisher, was also satisfying for Pino. Enjoy the Music rallied from just off the pace and lasted by three-quarters of a length in Wednesday's fourth race at Presque Isle.
Strike up the band! Celebrations are in order for Jockey Mario G. Pino as he becomes the 10th jockey in North American history to win 7,000 races aboard #2 Enjoy The Music in Race 4 at @PID_Casino! Congrats! pic.twitter.com/RUgKVD9X2b
— TVG (@TVG) October 20, 2021
"It feels great," Pino said of winning 7,000. "Sometimes, I have to pinch myself. Did I do it? It was really neat. It all worked out really nice."
Congratulations poured in on social media following his victory, with jockeys Florent Geroux and Jose Ortiz among those praising the accomplishment, along with retired jockey Ramon Dominguez.
Pino said he delayed retirement in recent years to pursue the 7,000-win milestone. He would relax during the winter months and then ride from the spring through fall at Presque Isle.
"I'm just so grateful and proud of myself, that I put myself to do it," he said.
Pino said he would retire to Florida with his wife Christina, and they plan to travel and visit their daughters, who reside across the country.
