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© Louanne Wainscott/ StallioneSearch

By Greg Thompson/StallioneSearch
OKLAHOMA CITY–JUNE 4, 2025–AQHA World Champion Jockey Francisco Calderon concluded the 2025 Remington Park meet by reaching several significant career milestones. He achieved his 1,000th career win, surpassed 100 career stakes victories, and ended the event with three impressive graded stakes wins.
Calderon, recognized as one of the most consistent riders in American Quarter Horse racing over the past five years, reached the 1,000-win mark during the latter part of the 2025 Remington Park Quarter Horse meet. His milestone victory came while riding Baby Ruth, a horse trained by Luis Villafranco, in the Heritage Place Oaks (G2) trial.
Earlier in the meet, Calderon won the Oklahoma Futurity (G2) riding Cowboy Blue Z, a horse trained by Michael Joiner and owned by West Texas Racing Partners. This victory pushed him above the 100 career stakes win mark, a significant achievement in a racing career that began in 2011, according to AQHA records. Of those stakes victories, 25 have come in either Grade 1 or Restricted-Grade 1 races.
On closing night in Oklahoma City, Calderon achieved victories aboard House Of Lords in the Heritage Place Oaks (G2), Curls Joyful Wagon in the Junos Request (G1), and finished in a dead heat for the win in the $1.16 million Heritage Place Futurity (G1) aboard Apollirevenge, trained by Marco Chavez-Gutierrez.
Calderon narrowly missed sweeping the Heritage Place triple (Futurity, Derby, and Oaks) with a runner-up finish aboard Valeriano Racing Stables' Rainbow Of Diamonds in the Heritage Place Oaks (G2).
"It was such a blessed night for us to finish off so strong in what has been a bit of a slow meet for me," said Calderon. "My agent and I went to work finding some live horses, and we are blessed to have those efforts pay off for us with wins.
“To close off the meet with the win in the Heritage Place Futurity(G1) after finishing second in the race so many times is truly an amazing experience," continues Calderon
Calderon is now two racing seasons removed from his record-setting year in 2023, during which he won his second AQHA World Champion Jockey Award and achieved an all-time earnings record for a racing season, totaling $7,211,055.
Throughout the 2023 racing season, Calderon rode 10 Grade 1 winners, including victories in the esteemed Debbie Schauf Remington Park Invitational (G1), Golden State Million Futurity (G1), Los Alamitos Two-Million Futurity (G1), Rainbow Derby (G1), The Downs At Albuquerque Fall Championship (G1), AQHA Challenge Championship (G1), Rainbow Futurity (G1), Texas Classic Futurity (G1), and the Champion of Champions (G1).
Calderon has accumulated over $27.6 million in lifetime Quarter Horse earnings from 5,734 starts. As of June 4, 2025, he has lit the board 2,678 times with 1,018 wins, 872 seconds, and 788 thirds.
With the impressive milestones of 1,000 career victories and over 100 career stakes events behind him, Calderon shows no signs of slowing down as he approaches the Ruidoso Downs summer meet. He has committed to a summer campaign on the mountain, setting his sights on the All American Futurity (G1) and other prestigious late-season meets.
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