TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Garrett Gomez, who won nearly 4,000 races in a 25-year career and was among the greatest jockeys of the first decade of the 21st century, has died in southern Arizona. He was 44.
Authorities with the Pascua Yaqui Tribe said Thursday that Gomez was found unconscious on the floor of a hotel room Wednesday and pronounced dead at the scene. They say foul play isn't suspected.
Gomez struggled with substance abuse several times during his career and had said he was having alcohol and personal problems when he rode his last race in 2013.
In 2007, Gomez won a record 76 stakes races and earned his first Eclipse Award, the jockey equivalent of being named a league MVP. He would win it again for 2008.
Gomez won 13 Breeders' Cup races, most memorably the 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic, when he rode Blame and gave legendary mare Zenyatta her only career loss.
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