Raymond Frederick Sibille (born September 13, 1952, inSunset, Louisiana) is a retired AmericanThoroughbred horse racingjockey. In a career that spanned thirty-five years, he rode his first winner on June 29, 1969, atEvangeline Downs inCarencro, Louisiana. In 1973, he moved to compete at theChicago-area tracks, where he won riding titles atArlington Park,Hawthorne Race Course, andSportsman's Park Racetrack. In 1981, he relocated toSouthern California, where he won numerous top races. In 1988, trainer Thad Ackel hired him as the regular rider forGreat Communicator, and Sibille met his greatest success that year, winning major races such as theHollywood Turf Cup Stakes,San Juan Capistrano,San Luis Obispo, andSan Marcos Handicaps before capping off the year with a win in theBreeders' Cup Turf.[1]
In 1993, Sibille returned to race in Chicago, where he competed until retiring on July 24, 2004. On November 8, 2004, theIllinois House of Representatives recognized his distinguished career and riding accomplishments. In 2005, he was voted theGeorge Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, a one-time honor given annually by the members of theJockeys' Guild to a jockey inNorth America 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 itsBoard of Directors as well as the organization's financial committee. He is an officer of theMacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund, which assists former jockeys experiencing hard times and theAndre Agassi Charitable Foundation for at-risk kids.