Raymond Frederick Sibille (born September 13, 1952, in Sunset, Louisiana) is a retired American Thoroughbred horse racing

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

. In a career that spanned thirty-five years, he rode his first winner on June 29, 1969, at

Evangeline Downs Evangeline Downs Racetrack & Casino is a racetrack in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, just east of Opelousas. It is owned and operated by Boyd Gaming. With a one-mile oval track, the facility provides close to 1,000 horse stalls for Thoroughbre ...

in Carencro, Louisiana. In 1973, he moved to compete at the Chicago-area tracks, where he won riding titles at Arlington Park, Hawthorne Race Course, and Sportsman's Park Racetrack. In 1981, he relocated to Southern California, where he won numerous top races. In 1988, trainer Thad Ackel hired him as the regular rider for Great Communicator, and Sibille met his greatest success that year, winning major races such as the Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes, San Juan Capistrano, San Luis Obispo, and

San Marcos Handicap The San Marcos Stakes is an American Grade II Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late January or early February at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Open to horses aged four and older, it is raced on turf over a distance of one and ...

s before capping off the year with a win in the

Breeders' Cup Turf The Breeders' Cup Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for three-year-olds and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The race's current ...

In 1993, Sibille returned to race in Chicago, where he competed until retiring on July 24, 2004. On November 8, 2004, the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

recognized his distinguished career and riding accomplishments. In 2005, he was voted the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, a one-time honor given annually by the members of the Jockeys' Guild to a jockey in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack. Sibille was a member of the Jockeys' Guild for more than thirty years and served on its

Board of Directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

as well as the organization's financial committee. He is an officer of the MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund, which assists former jockeys experiencing hard times and the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation for at-risk kids.

References

February 20, 2005 at Bloodhorse.com on Ray Sibille being voted the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award

Ray Sibille at the NTRA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sibille, Ray 1952 births Living people American jockeys Cajun jockeys People from Sunset, Louisiana