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Statistics

Lifetime
Races Wins Place Show
360 44 43 40
1977
8 1 2  0
1978
188 25 22 22
1979
164 18 19 18
1981
Racing as Downing
19 2 2  2
1982
86 12 7 6
1984
171 21 23 21
1985
98 15 9 13
1986
168 22 14 20
1987
102 15 13 11
1988
113 16 15 15
1989
89 15 9 8
Tracks Ridden
Suffolk Downs
Narragansett Park
Rockingham Park
Great Barrington Fair
Northampton Fair
Marshfield Fair
Meadowlands
Saratoga Race Course
Penn National
BIOGRAPHY

Debbie Riemers, was born in Minnesota, before her racing career, she drove a truck (a big one) and earned a degree in animal science. She would one day find herself at old Hialeah Park, there she was taken by female jockey Robyn Smith, it was then that, she realized she could do it too. 

It didn't take long for her to contact a Calder Race Course trainer, Tommy Root, about a job, in 1975. She started out as a hot walker and ended up galloping horses within three months. In 1975 Riemers, migrated to New England, which was a hotbed for female jockeys at the time. On December 16, 1977 she had her first mount aboard a horse named Ambiguen in the opener at Suffolk Downs. She finished second that day, seven days later she rode that same horse to her first victory, Merry Christmas. Her first win under her belt, she and an old war horse were on their way to national attention.

In 1978, Riemers, would team up with trainer William Sienkewiecz and and a seventeen year old New Jersey bred named Golden Arrow. The old "War Horse" was a former New England stakes horse, who also raced in New Jersey and Maryland, back in the day. The group teamed up for five wins that year and were featured in an article in Sports Illustrated. They would ride together till 1979 when they both retired.

Debbie Riemers, ended her career after three years with 44 lifetime wins, which included a record setting race at The Great Barrington Fairgrounds. On July 26, 1979 she and a Florida shipper named Le Diplomate, smashed a twenty nine year old record at five furlongs, the most common distance at the track. Fortunately her story doesn't end here, in 1981 she will re-appear as Debbie Downing, see Also Raced As link to the left.       

In 1981, after taking on a husband and giving birth to twin daughters, Debbie Riemers, magically re-appears as Debbie Downing. She married Mike Downing, a trainer on the New England circuit, who she would ride exclusively for until she called it quits in 1989.

Never quite reaching the notoriety of her other self, Downing won 118 races and had a decent 14% win average. She would also ride the first winner at newly re-opened Rockingham park, on May 26, 1984. Downing, would also notch a stakes victory, when she rode Manassa Jack, to victory in the Miles Standish Stakes, at Suffolk Downs in 1986. Riding mainly in New England, she did venture out of the area on occasion before she stopped riding.   

SCRAPBOOK
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Le Diplomate Track Record
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Debbie Downing Wins First Race at New Rock