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Corey S. Nakatani (born October 21, 1970, in Covina, California, United States) is a retired US Hall of Fame Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. He has won 3,909 races in his career including the Kentucky Oaks twice and the Strub Stakes four times. He has won ten races in the Breeders' Cup, including three consecutive victories in the Breeders' Cup Sprint between 1996 and 1998. A fixture on the southern California racing circuit, Nakatani won a total of ten riding titles between Santa Anita Park, Del Mar and the now-closed Hollywood Park.[2]
Nakatani is married to his second wife, Lisa, and has two daughters, Lilah and Brittany, and two sons, Matthew, who currently plays football for the University of Louisville, and Austin. Brittany, Matthew, and Austin are from a previous marriage to Michele Dollase, daughter of trainer Wallace Dollase. His late father Roy Nakatani, a Japanese American, was born in a World War II internment camp and spent time at Santa Anita Park when it was a relocation camp. Corey's mother is Marie Nakatani and he is one of ten children.
Corey was a champion high school wrestler who became intrigued by racing after visiting Santa Anita with his father after a wrestling tournament at the age of sixteen. Nakatani eventually approached horse trainer Roger Stein for work. After three days of mucking out stalls and walking horses, he decided he wanted to ride even though he had never been on a horse before. Stein then suggested that he get some experience on a working farm, so he learned the ropes on the Thoroughbred farm of Tony Matos. He then went on and broke and galloped horses for Johnny Longden and Longden's son, Eric Longden before starting his career as a jockey. He graduated from jockey school in Castaic, California, and won his first race, a dead heat, in Caliente, Mexico in 1988 aboard Blue King. He moved to Southern California in April 1989, and became the leading apprentice jockey that same year. His current residence is Southern California.[3][4]
Nakatani won his 3,500th race at Aqueduct Racetrack on November 17, 2011, aboard Grand Strategy in the eighth race of the day.[4]
Nakatani has ridden a number of notable horses including Jackson Bend, Nehro, Colonel John, Lava Man, Thor's Echo, Aragorn, Rock Hard Ten, Sarafan, Indian Blessing, Lite Light, Relaxed Gesture, Sandpit, Serena's Song, Bolt d'Oro, Silic, and Lit de Justice.[4]
In the 2015 Kentucky Derby, won by American Pharoah, Nakatani was the jockey of Frammento, which placed 15th. Weeks earlier, the jockey had broken his collarbone in a March 17 spill at Santa Anita. In the 2014 Kentucky Derby, he finished sixth on Dance With Fate.
Nakatani was badly injured in a spill at Del Mar in August 2018, suffering multiple compression fractures and herniated discs.[5] Nakatani never returned to the saddle and formally announced his retirement as a jockey on November 23, 2019, in a statement through his son and jockey agent Matt.[5]
In 2023 Nakatani will be inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.[6]
| Chart (2000–present) | Rank by earnings |
|---|---|
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2000 | 9 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2001 | 16 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2002 | 35 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2003 | 17 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2004 | 7 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2005 | 12 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2006 | 6 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2007 | 21 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2008 | 71 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2009 | 116 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2010 | 48 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2011 | 16 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2012 | 18 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2013 | 35 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2014 | 22 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2015 | 106 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2016 | 192 |
| National Earnings List for Jockeys 2017 | 46 |
