Rosie's Run for the Roses

The following is a script from "Rosie's Run for the Roses" which aired on April 28, 2013. Bob Simon is the correspondent. Tom Anderson and Michelle St. John, producer.

The hottest jockey in America may end up winning more races this year than anyone else and has ridden horses that have earned more than $48 million in purse money. What distinguishes this jockey from champions of yesteryear is that she's a woman and there are not many of that gender in this game.

Rosie Napravnik is 25 years old, was born in New Jersey, lives in New Orleans and next Saturday is a contender to win the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Rosie will be running for the roses. No woman has ever come close to winning there before. But Rosie Napravnik has been surprising the bookies since she began racing.

When she breaks from the gate, jostled by other jockeys, Rosie gives as good as she gets in a sport that's long been dominated by men. It's close to a contact sport. Rosie is 5-foot-2 and weighs in at little more than 110 pounds. Imagine the strength it takes to dominate that thousand pound beast - cruising at more than 40 miles an hour. Just watch the rhythm as that yellow helmet moves. It takes focus, a fine touch and an absolute absence of fear -- something Rosie Napravnik has never known.

Rosie Napravnik: I don't ever really remember a time when I got really nervous.

Bob Simon: Not even when you're on a horse that's going so fast?

Rosie Napravnik: No. That's when I'm most comfortable.

Bob Simon: Most like yourself?

Rosie Napravnik: Absolutely.

Rosie's statistics are stunning. She's won more than 1,500 races since she started competing at the age of 17. This year, she's finished first, second, or third nearly 60 percent of the time. Her sister Jazz, who trains horses, says it's all about style.

Jazz Napravnik: There's a special something she has that gets those horses to put in a little extra effort. And she has a special connection that no one can really put words to.

Bob Simon: Do you think that a woman can have more finesse with a horse than a man can?

Jazz Napravnik: Absolutely. I think if strength is what men have to their advantage, I think women would have finesse.

Rosie Napravnik: Horses can feel your nerves, horses can feel excitement, they can feel you relax, which will help them relax.

Relax...but go for it. Rosie says her biggest success was at last year's Kentucky Oaks, which is the Kentucky Derby for fillies.

She was the only woman in the race. The odds against her were 13 to one. So, when she crossed the finish line almost a length ahead of number two, her friends and fans had not only made a buck. They had stuck it to the skeptics. And to make the occasion even more joyous, her horse was named Believe You Can.

Rosie Napravnik: The moment when I knew I had the race won was like, you know, it was just that fulfilling satisfaction feeling, you know, the greatest moment of my career.

But it wasn't an easy ride getting there. Horse racing had been stamped "Men Only" for more than a century.

Bob Simon: When you started out, did the jockeys-- male jockeys say, "How great. Welcome to the club?"

Rosie Napravnik: Not always. They gave me a pretty hard time.

Bob Simon: How did they give you a hard time?

Rosie Napravnik: They would try to intimidate me in the races, put me in a tight spot up against the rail or in between two horses. You know, it's something that I've had to go through more than once.

Go through and go down. Rosie's had five major spills. One of the worst was at Delaware Park, when her horse stumbled and fell and she tried to roll away from the horse behind her, but didn't make it.

Rosie Napravnik: What happened was I fell off the horse and I rolled right in front of another horse who ended up breaking my leg. So I've tried to learn from my experiences.

She's also broken her back, her collarbone, her left arm and she snapped her wrist in two. She has a metal rod in her leg and a plate in her arm.

Bob Simon: Did you ever think, "Well, maybe I should try something else?"

Rosie Napravnik: No. I've never thought that.

Bob Simon: You are insane. You do realize that?

Rosie Napravnik: Well, I'll tell you. Any athlete that has an injury, no matter what sport they're in, normally just wants to know when they can get back to doing their sport.

Bob Simon: Oh come on, give me a break.

Rosie Napravnik: Well, it's a passion.

What else could it be, but a passion for speed and for winning. Rosie's got both. And they've taken her to where she is today. But the Kentucky Derby, like the Super Bowl, is a world of its own. Rosie has been there before. Two years ago, she finished ninth - the best a woman has ever done in this race.

Bob Simon: So it wouldn't be overstating it to say that this is a pretty big deal for Rosie?

Todd Pletcher: I would say it's a huge deal.

Todd Pletcher has been America's top-earning horse trainer for three years. Last year he put Rosie on his budding super star, Shanghai Bobby. Rosie and Bobby won five races in a row, and Bobby became the two-year-old champion of the year, an early favorite to win the Kentucky Derby along with his favorite jockey, Rosie.

Todd Pletcher: For any rider to get to that level is quite an accomplishment. But especially for a girl, in-- you know, in a profession that's largely male-dominated.

Yes, you heard him right. Horse racing may be the only profession in America where a mature 25-year-old woman is still called a girl. No glass ceiling here. More like concrete. Barbara Jo Rubin - B.J. for short -- was one of the first female jockeys. She started out 44 years ago.

Bob Simon: How bad was it when you started?

B.J.: A lot of trainers wouldn't let me even come under their shed row. You know it was bad luck.

Bob Simon: Did they say why?

B.J.: Yes it was bad luck and they wanted me outta there.

And they got her outta there. She ended up racing in the Bahamas because male jockeys in Florida threatened to shut down the track if she competed. The boycott collapsed eventually. But even when B.J. became the first woman to win a race in the states, the chauvinists kept on shouting.

B.J.: A lot of 'em would boo at me and tell me to go home, make babies, get outta there. It was not a woman's place to be on the racetrack.

That was more than 40 years ago, and times have changed. But how much? Some of the boys in the stands still refuse to shut up.

Bob Simon: What do they say?

Rosie Napravnik: Go home and have a baby. Go home and stay in the kitchen.

It's one thing to ignore hecklers. But what about the people who put her in the saddle?

Rosie Napravnik: There still are owners and trainers that don't want to ride a female. The only way that I deal with that is, you know, to try to beat that person in a race, beat that trainer or owner in a race.

And since winning is all that matters, she says, what difference does it make if your name is Rosie or Ralph.

Rosie Napravnik: Most of the time I feel like I'm just one of the guys.

Horse racing is one of the few sports where men and women compete against each other, which means you can throw manners out the window.

Bob Simon: Look, ordinarily it's very uncouth for a guy to ask a woman her weight, but what's your weight?

Rosie Napravnik: Right now, I weigh 113 lbs.

Bob Simon: So that about right?

Rosie Napravnik: That's exactly right.

Bob Simon: It's exactly right?

Rosie Napravnik: Uh-huh

Bob Simon: Do you have to pay attention to stay exactly there?

Rosie Napravnik: I step on the scale multiple times a day. We-- as jockeys we step on the scale before and after every single race. I also step on the scale when I first wake up in the morning. I step on the scale when I get home from work in the morning. I step on the scale before I go to the racetrack. I step on the scale when I get to the racetrack. I step on the scale all day long throughout the races. And then I step on the scale before I go home when I leave the jocks' room, and then I step on the scale right before I go to bed at night.

The scale never lies. A problem for many of us. But Rosie knew what her truth was from the very beginning. Her first horses were show ponies. But she didn't want prancing. She wanted speed on a pony called Sweet Sensation.

[Announcer: It looks like it's going to be Sweet Sensation.]

Another sweet sensation is wealth, but unlike many in the horsey set, Rosie's family didn't have wealth. Her mother Cindy ran a stable to pay the bills.

Bob Simon: I guess this all started with pony races?

Cindy Napravnik: Yes, it did. I never saw anything so small go so fast. But when she came off the track, she was beaming, the pony was happy, everybody was happy. We're like, "Oh my gosh." And she goes, "Mom, I want to win the Triple Crown Races."

Bob Simon: And she was how old then?

Cindy Napravnik: She was seven.

Rosie and her sister Jazz cleaned stalls in their mother's stable to help pay for their horses. The girls' father, Charles, was what horse people call a farrier -- a blacksmith -- went from farm to farm, hammering out horse shoes, trimming hooves. He's still at it today, that is, when he isn't watching his kid race.

Bob Simon: Why is she so good at what she does?

Charles Napravnik: I think she's an athlete. I think she's a natural horsewoman. You know, she's 25 years old, but she's been riding for 26 years, because when her mother was pregnant with her, her mother was riding.

Jazz Napravnik: We had a little motto between the two of us. And it was, "You're never good enough until you're the best." And to see her currently the leading rider in the country, as far as by the number of wins she's had this year, is so exciting.

Bob Simon: Sort of mind-blowing isn't it?

Jazz Napravnik: It is a little bit.

Charles Napravnik: It is.

Jazz Napravnik: It is a little bit.

And so much of it is in the mind. Rosie says she is more relaxed, more herself, when she is on a horse than at any other time. That's why she spends so much time riding when she doesn't have to. After her morning gallop on a thoroughbred, she goes back to the track on her pony Sugar just to hang out and to be with her husband Joe, who's a trainer. Rosie told us she loves what she does because she loves her horses. And she knows how to talk to them.

Bob Simon: Can you describe what it means to communicate well?

Rosie Napravnik: They feel all the aids that we call them. You know, reins are an aid. Your voice is an aid. You know, you can make like a smooching noise, which will get them to kind of spurt forward.

Bob Simon: What kind of noise?

Rosie Napravnik: I'm not going to make that noise on 60 Minutes.

Bob Simon: I was hoping you would.

Rosie Napravnik: I have limits.

So do her horses. Rosie's big hope for the Derby - Shanghai Bobby - has been having a tough year. He was undefeated as a two-year-old, but this year he and Rosie finished second, in a race at Gulfstream Park. Two months later, at the Florida Derby, Bobby came in fifth and was diagnosed with a bone fracture. He won't be running at Churchill Downs.

Rosie Napravnik: I think, you know, you have to learn in our industry, that if you dwell on every loss you're going to do a lot of dwelling.

The best description of racing is probably that old one. You win some, you lose some. Just don't lose too often.

Rosie Napravnik: I guess it's a humbling sense of that-- just because I'm at the top right now, doesn't mean that I'll remain there.

Bob Simon: Does it worry you?

Rosie Napravnik: It's just a competitive state of mind. I mean, this game is very, very up and down. You know, jockeys go into slumps, trainers go into slumps.

But Rosie has become a queen in the sport of kings. And she'll be riding another horse in Kentucky by the name of Mylute. Last month, he came in a close second in the Louisiana Derby. At the Kentucky Derby, he's far from a favorite. But, then again, many a gambler has gone home with empty pockets after betting against Rosie.

Bob Simon: Is there anything in life better than winning a race?

Rosie Napravnik: There's lots of great things in life, but there's nothing like winning a race.