Jockey Chris Emigh

BORN: 01/14/71, Portsmouth, Virginia

RESIDES: Wheaton, Illinois

FAMILY: Kim, wife; Taylor, daughter; Hunter, son  

Chris, who has ridden with continued success since he began his jockey career in 1989, is riding regularly at Oaklawn. 

He enjoyed an excellent 2009 meeting, posting 34 winners from his 263 mounts, sufficient for third place in the final standings. 

A power in the stakes department, Chris rode Palanka City to victory in the Spring Fever and Carousel stakes as well as Prom Shoes in the Essex at the 2009 meeting. 

On March 15, 2008, he rode Sierra Sunset to an impressive win in Oaklawn’s $300,000 Rebel Stakes. 

In recent years, he has been a regular on the Chicago Circuit, following Oaklawn. 

“Before that, I rode at Louisiana Downs and the Fair Grounds,” he recalled. 

Racing first began hearing of Emigh in 1995 when he won the Col. Power Breeders’ Cup on Mr. Cooperative, the Davona Dale Stakes with Legendary Princess and the Shiskabob Handicap astride Blue Concord. 

In 2001, he rode 130 winners. 

“I have averaged 125 winners a year since I started riding,” he said.         

He advised his name is German and that he followed his twin brother Aaron to the races. 

“Aaron, now retired, was a jockey. Our father was a mechanical engineer. We moved from Virginia to Louisiana, when dad went to work on off-shore oil rigs. Lloyd Romero and Mark Thornton helped me get started riding,” Chris remembers.