OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mike Luzzi, the Eclipse Award winning apprentice jockey of 1989 and a winner of more than 3,500 races, announced his retirement from riding Saturday. Luzzi will become the agent for his son Lane, who has based at Aqueduct since October. “It was his idea,” Mike Luzzi, 54, said of becoming his son’s agent. “Reluctantly, I’m going to finish my career. It’s tough, I still felt like I had a comeback in me.” Luzzi, a grandson of the trainer Virgil “Buddy” Raines, won 3,539 races in a career that began in 1988 and one in which he won more than 250 stakes. In 1991, Luzzi won the Grade 1 Brooklyn Handicap at Aqueduct on Timely Warning, trained by Raines. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Among his Grade 1 wins was Daaher in the 2007 Cigar Mile. Horses on which Luzzi won multiple stakes included Grade 1 winners Critical Eye and Spun Sugar as well as stakes winners Kiri’s Clown, Groovy Feeling, Dixie Flag, Shake You Down, and Coyote Lakes. In recent years, Luzzi’s career has been interrupted by injuries, limiting his opportunities, especially on the tough New York Racing Association circuit, one of which he’s been a part of since 1994. Luzzi began his career riding on the Maryland circuit. This year, Luzzi rode just one winner from 18 mounts. His final mount came on Sept. 4 at Finger Lakes when he rode Sea Foam, who finished last, in the Genesee Valley Breeders’ Stakes. For most of the summer and fall, Luzzi exercised horses at Saratoga for trainers Bill Mott, Linda Rice, and Danny Gargan. “Had a good career, could have done without the injuries,” Luzzi said. “Never rode the [Kentucky] Derby, my biggest regret.” In 2001, Luzzi was voted winner of the Mike Venezia Award, an honor given to a jockey who exemplifies extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship. In 2015, he received the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, given by Santa Anita, based on a vote of jockeys, to a rider who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct both on and off the racetrack. Lane Luzzi began riding in December 2015 and has spent the majority of his career in the Southwest. He moved his tack to New York in October and he has ridden three winners so far at the Aqueduct fall meet. Lane Luzzi had been represented by Shawn Klotz. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.