Jockeys
Birthdate: Jan. 1, 1972
Birthplace: Tucson Ariz.
Residence: Duarte Calif.
Family: wife, Pam; children, Amanda, Shelby, Jared, and Collin.
Gomez is a two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey who was North America's leading jockey by purse earning every year from 2006 through 2009. He guided Blame to a victory in the 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), handing the great Zenyatta her only career defeat.
Gomez, who has battled substance abuse throughout his life, in 2012 released the biographical "The Garrett Gomez Story: A Jockey's Journey Through Addiction and Salvation", which he wrote with Rudolph Valier Alvarado.
Gomez was honored in 2011 with the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. Voted on by fellow riders, the Woolf Award honors jockeys whose on-track performance and personal character earn esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing.
Gomez won the Eclipse Award as outstanding jockey in both 2007 and 2008. For 2013, Gomez will ride Vyjack, who will carry 70 points on the new system, in the Kentucky Derby.
