DeShawn Parker
Born Jan. 8, 1971, Parker was a perennial leading rider at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia for more than 20 years. Parker, who through March 16, had 5,841 career wins, has also enjoyed considerable success at Indiana Grand, leading all riders in 2020 and at Sam Houston Race Park, where he was their leading rider in 2015. Married with two children, Parker lives in East Liverpool, Ohio. The 2020 Woolf Award was won by Luis M. Quinones and DeShawn Parker will thus become the 72nd jockey, dating back to Gordon Glisson in 1950, to be so honored. The 2021 Woolf Award win comes on the heels of the passing of Parker’s mentor and father, Daryl Parker. A longtime highly respected Ohio racing steward, Parker passed away from cancer in Cincinnati on March 4. “My idol, my best friend and a great father!” Parker tweeted on March 5. “He meant so much to my life and my career. I can only hope to be as great as he was. I’m going to miss my Dad so much, but I know he’s in a better place with no pain and living his life to the fullest up there, hanging with friends and family and talking up a storm!”
