Alex Solis
American Classics wins:
Preakness Stakes (1986)
Breeders' Cup Sprint (2000)
Breeders' Cup Turf (2003)
Breeders' Cup Classic (2003)
Canadian Classic Race wins:
Breeders' Stakes (2012)
International race wins:
Dubai Golden Shaheen (2000, 2004)
Dubai World Cup (2004)
Alex O. Solis (born March 25, 1964 in Panama City, Panama) is a jockey based in the United States. He currently lives in Glendora, California and rides predominantly in Southern California. He got his big break and his first gained national prominence when he won the 1986 Preakness Stakes with Snow Chief. In 2014, he was elected to the horse racing hall of fame and on January 1, 2015 became the 29th jockey in North American history to have 5,000 wins.
He grew up poor on a farm in San Carlos, Panama, where he spent a lot of time around horses. He visited a race track for the first time when he was 13 and by 14 was enrolled in a jockey school. After two years in jockey school and after becoming the leading apprentice jockey in Panama, he came to the United States in 1982 with only $700 and did not speak English. He began his American career at Calder Race Course in Florida, where he quickly achieved racing success and was given the nickname El Maestrito ("The Maestro"). He told interviewers that he worked to improve his English by watching television and listening to music.
Solis' first rode in the Kentucky Derby in 1983 on a longshot named Current Hope, and did not place in the money. He rode the Derby again in 1986 on Snow Chief, who had won the Santa Anita Derby and was the morning line favorite, but again finished well back. The horse and rider went on to with the Preakness Stakes that year, marking Solis' only win to date in an American Triple Crown race. He was third in the 1991 Derby on Mane Minister, and also third in the Belmont Stakes on the same horse. Solis finished second in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Preakness with Captain Bodgit in 1997, second in the Derby with Victory Gallop in 1998 and second in both the Derby and the Belmont with Aptitude in 2000. His first Breeders' Cup win was the 2000 Breeders' Cup Sprint on Kona Gold. He won two Breeders' Cup races in 2003 with Johar (who finished in a dead heat) in the Breeders' Cup Turf, and the Breeders' Cup Classic on Pleasantly Perfect, both trained by Richard Mandella. He ended 2003 ranked fourth nationally in purse earnings with a career-best $16,304,252.
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