Jockey Terry Thompson

Terry Thompson
Born: 08/07/71, Omaha, Nebraska
Resides: Ankeny, Iowa  

Thompson, among the more popular jockeys at Oaklawn, easily won the 2009 jockey title at the Spa.

He rode 62 winners from his 337 mounts.   

Among those victories were the $150,000 Razorback Handicap, March 7, aboard Let It Rock and the $100,000 Instant Racing, April 11, on Payton D’Oro. 

Pulling off a race riding rarity, Thompson bagged consecutive triples at  the 2009 meeting . 

“The triples? I have done that before, yet it is always a big thrill.  Any winner is a thrill,” Thompson said. 

On opening week, the jockey said he had good feelings about Oaklawn  2009. 

“Coming up to opening day. I had been getting on some stock in the mornings that were really training well.  I knew that I would be riding horses for some stables that always win Oaklawn races,” said Thompson. 

Luck plays an important role in the career of a jockey. “If you are establishing goals for yourself, the major one is to stay healthy,” remarked Thompson, who has been riding at Oaklawn since 2000. 

The jockey always sets a unique goal for himself. “I tell myself I want to average a winner a day.  For example, the meeting last year was scheduled for 54 days. So my goal was to win 54 races,”  

One of his highlights of Oaklawn’s 2007 meeting occurred during the Racing Festival of the South when he captured the $100,000 Bayakoa Stakes on Gasia. 

During that 2007 Oaklawn season, he rode career winner 2,000.  

Thompson happily remembers riding Sir Cherokee to an upset triumph in the $500,000 Arkansas Derby in 2003. Sir Cherokee paid $113.20 to win.

To bring a smile to his face, mention such fillies as Sure Shot Biscuit, Island Sand and Ruby’s Reception. 

“I won 19 races on Sure Shot Biscuit, the only Iowa-bred to ever earn a million dollars,” he recalled. 

He will not soon forget the 2004 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park, winning that event on Island Sand. 

In 2003, he won Oaklawn’s $200,000 Fantasy Stakes aboard Ruby’s Reception.

The jockey is a protégé of Jack Van Berg. 

"Ralph Irwin, a regular trainer at Oaklawn now, was Jack’s assistant at the time. Jack really helped me.

I was a hot walker, and then groom, and finally Jack began letting me get on horses in the mornings. Soon, I was galloping and finally riding races.

Becoming a rider is a one step at a time thing," insists Terry. 

Thompson’s Oaklawn highlight in 2008 was winning a division of the $50,000 Martha Washington Stakes on the ill-fated filly, Eight Belles.   

"At one time, I pretty well confined myself to riding in Kentucky, but made some changes.  I needed to establish myself a circuit so took in Oaklawn and Prairie Meadows," explained Terry.