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In April 2021, a rumor started to circulate on Facebook that the winning jockey in the Kentucky Derby, John Velazquez, had turned down an invitation to visit the White House and had called U.S. President Joe Biden a horse's ass. This is not a genuine quote from Velazquez and the Kentucky Derby winner did not turn down an invitation to the White House. Velazquez, who rode Medina Spirit to his second consecutive Kentucky Derby victory (his fourth overall), spoke to the media after his victory on May 1, 2021. Velazquez talked strategy, his place in history (he's now in third place on the all-time win list for jockeys), and what it was like winning a Derby at the age of 49. As far as we can tell, the subject of politics was never broached. Velazquez said: While championship teams are often invited to the White House, it doesn't appear that this tradition extends to Derby winners. We found several reports about presidents (or former presidents) attending the horse race in Kentucky, but we were not able to find any record of Derby winners' attending a celebration at the White House. (If it has happened before, it certainly isn't an annual tradition). In other words, it's difficult to turn down an offer that was never extended. The quote, too, is a work of fiction. In fact, a nearly verbatim joke circulated in 2018 about a jockey's refusal to visit then-President Donald Trump at the White House: In addition to there being no record of Velazquez making this remark, the winning jockey's agent confirmed to The Associated Press that this quote was fake. Ron Anderson, Velazquez’s agent, said: This is ridiculous ... In a million, zillion years, Johnny would not say that about anything or anyone.
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