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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Following a path blazed by five female pioneers before her, Anna Rose Napravnik, 23, will try Saturday to become the first woman jockey to win the Kentucky Derby. And “Rosie,” riding Louisiana Derby winner Pants on Fire, may have the best chance of them all at taking home the roses.
None of the five women, including Hall of Famer Julie Krone, finished in the top 10 and Krone, atop Suave Prospect in 1995, went off at the best odds at 13-1.
“I’m very excited and feel blessed to be here,” Napravnik, a native of Morristown, N.J., said yesterday. “It’s coming a lot sooner in my career than I may have thought. The first and second generations of female riders really did pave the way for us, and it’s a lot easier now.”
Napravnik became a jockey in 2005 after racing ponies as a young girl.
“I was hooked to the thrill of the speed since then,” she said.
Already, she is one of the nation’s top riders of either gender.
Starting out on the mid-Atlantic circuit, she won titles at Laurel, Pimlico and Delaware Park, rode two winters at Aqueduct — “spending time in New York was really important for my career,” she says — and recently was the first female to be leading rider at the Fair Grounds, winning 110 races, 31 more than runner-up Shaun Bridgmohan.
The $1 million Louisiana Derby — again, she was the first female to win it — was one of her 13 stakes victories at the meet.
“I don’t think of ‘first female to do this,’ or ‘first female to do that,’ ” she said. “I ride with the guys every day. I feel like I’m treated equally.”
Napravnik had never ridden Pants On Fire — who will break from post 7 at 20-1 morning-line odds — before, but her agent called trainer Kelly Breen and got the mount.
“I think he is as talented as anyone in the field,” she said. “Pants On Fire has a great demeanor, very cool and collected. He’s a very classy horse, and runs with extreme amounts of heart. When the favorite came up next to him in the Louisiana Derby, and we were driving for an eighth of a mile, it takes a lot of heart to stick it out.”
