Godolphin have added another leading American jockey to their Royal Ascot team, it was announced today.
John Velazquez will ride for the Dubai operation at the Royal meeting, in a supporting role to his compatriot Jerry Bailey it said on Godolphin's official website.
Velazquez, 28, was invited by Sheikh Mohammed to ride at the prestigious four-day fixture, which runs from June 20-23, and has previously ridden for Godolphin in both America and Dubai, partnering such horses as Daylami, Almutawakel and Aljabr.
The New York-based rider enjoyed his biggest success aboard the Michael Dickinson-trained Da Hoss in the 1998 Breeders' Cup Mile.
More recently he had a victory on the British-trained Running Stag in the Grade Two Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs earlier this month.
He won his first two Grade One stakes in 1995 with Turk Passer in the Turf Classic and Perfect Arc in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup and was the regular partner of Yanks Music, champion three-year-old filly of 1996.
He also rode Instant Friendship for his father-in-law, trainer Leo O'Brien, to take the Crown Prince Cup at Riyadh in Saudi Arabia in 1997.
Velazquez entered the jockey school in his native Puerto Rica in 1988 and moved to New York in March, 1990, under the guidance of retired Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero Jr.
He is regularly among the top 10 riders in America and his mounts have won US4 million so far this year.
