Could She Be Next Krone?

On the day she would have graduated from Hereford High School, Rosie Napravnik didn’t get the chance to march down the aisle to “Pomp and Circumstance.” Instead, the standout apprentice jockey trotted on horseback to the winner’s circle twice at Pimlico Race Course.

Napravnik skipped her senior year to pursue the only job she ever wanted. The decision proved to be wise -- and profitable.

The New Jersey native is the leading money winner in Maryland in 2006 and, through Thursday, ranked fifth nationally with 158 victories. During a career that began June 9, 2005, with a winning ride on her first mount, Napravnik has won 229 races and earned $4.21 million in purse money.

“I would have liked to graduate so I could say I was Class of 2006, here’s my yearbook and look at all my friends,” she said. “If I wasn’t enjoying what I was doing as much as I am, I would probably regret missing my senior year of high school. It would have been fun, but I would much rather be doing this.”

As she entered the final two days of Pimlico’s spring meet, she had been aboard 56 winners and won at least twice on 17 of 29 days. There’s no homework involved, but the days are long and the tests amount to riding a horse under intense pressure up to 10 times in an afternoon.

“I didn’t know what to expect coming into this, but I’m really pleased with my success and the things that I’ve done,” Napravnik said. “I get up around 6 o’clock, work two to seven horses in the morning, go home, take a shower, come here, try to take a nap and then ride all day.

“Then I go home, try not to eat too much and go to sleep.”

The 18-year-old Napravnik began riding horses as a 2-year-old on her mother’s farm, and by age 7 had decided she wanted to be a jockey. She got the chance after her junior year in high school, and her parents had no intention of standing in her way.

“I was right behind her,” said her father, Charles Napravnik. “She wanted to do this since she was a little girl. I really wasn’t worried about her education. I just wanted her to get a diploma.”

His daughter intends to take her GED test this summer. If odds were posted on her chances of passing, she probably would be listed as a strong favorite.

“She’s always gotten good grades,” Charles Napravnik said. “Rosie would have graduated easily if she stayed in school, and I have no doubt she will get it done.”

Rosie Napravnik ultimately hopes to be recognized as a modern-day Julie Krone, considered the best female jockey in the sport’s history. Krone won 3,541 races, including 276 stakes, and is the only female rider to win a Triple Crown event. In 1993, Krone guided Colonial Affair to victory in the Belmont Stakes.

“I actually never really heard of Julie Krone until I was like 10. She’s really like the only jockey I’d heard of, period,” Napravnik said. “I knew she was this girl jockey and did all these great things, but I didn’t know anything about it really. I know now that Julie Krone has done enormous things with racing. I’m just trying to do the best I can.”

Napravnik has won more races and money than any jockey in Maryland this year, but some people have different ways of measuring success. On the day before the Kentucky Derby, one of her friends called and asked if she was riding in the big race.

“I said, ‘No, that’s only for the best riders in the world,’ ” Napravnik said. “She said, ‘I thought you were good.’ I said, ‘I’ve been doing OK, but we’re not there yet.’ ”

She did, however, win two races on the Preakness undercard last month. Her ultimate goal is to be recognized as one of the best jockeys in the sport -- male or female.

“I just would like to be one of those riders that everybody knows, like a Jerry Bailey or an Edgar Prado,” she said. “Ride the Triple Crown races and do the things that the good jockeys do.”

She’s certainly off to an excellent start.

“I really think she’s the best apprentice rider I’ve ever been around,” said Ferris Allen, a highly successful Maryland-based trainer who’s been in the sport for 30 years. “She rides like a cagey veteran, she’s where she’s supposed to be all of the time, and she’s fearless when it comes to guiding a horse through a lane. Those are attributes that don’t usually show up until later in a rider’s career.”

When she began her career as a jockey a year ago, trainers were more inclined to hire her because of the five-pound weight allowance allowed apprentice riders than for her talent. That weight allowance doesn’t apply to stakes races, but Napravnik is now in high demand for those, too.

“The rest of the world is realizing she’s a bargain, even without the allowance,” Allen said.

One day, Napravnik hopes to attract the services of trainers such as Bob Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas. Then, when a friend calls to ask her if she’s riding in the Kentucky Derby, Napravnik will be able to smile and answer, “Yes!”

“She has all the tools,” Allen said. “But potential only gets filled if you’re willing to do the work to get there.”

Napravnik has no intention of sitting back and enjoying the ride.

“There have been female jockeys that have done well in their apprenticeship and you never hear of them again,” she said. “I’m just trying to keep it going. The sky’s the limit.”