( CNN ) -- The best jockey in America , if not the world , is talking about a sport close to his heart -- baseball . For a man who has just scooped the most prestigious horse race in the U.S. -- the Kentucky Derby -- Joel Rosario seems almost reluctant to talk about life on the track . But get him onto baseball , and it 's a whole other ball game for the all-conquering rider from the Dominican Republic -- a Caribbean island nation that has just one racing venue . `` I like to be a jockey . But I love baseball , '' the softly spoken 28-year-old told CNN . `` Growing up I played a lot of baseball . But I was small and did n't weigh much . My family thought maybe I could be a jockey , so when I was 12 my half-brother took me to a jockey school . '' Small stature , giddy heights . Fast forward 15 years and Rosario is now one of the most successful jockeys on the planet , in the space of just five weeks winning titles his counterparts spend a lifetime chasing . The Latin American , who moved to the U.S. when he was 20 , was catapulted to international stardom in March after winning the world 's richest race , the $ 10 million Dubai World Cup , atop thoroughbred Animal Kingdom . Weeks later he was kissing another coveted trophy , the Kentucky Derby , after conquering the mud-splattered Churchill Downs race course on three-year-old colt , Orb . Notching up almost $ 14 million in prize money this year alone , Rosario has finished in the top three places in a remarkable 57 % of his races . `` There 's no doubt he 's the best jockey in the U.S. today , '' said jockey agent Ron Anderson , who has been in the business 40 years and worked with such riding legends as Gary Stevens . `` He 's one of those riders that only comes along every 25 years . He 's so tremendously strong and has so much in rhythm with the horse -- it 's almost like an instinct . '' Triple Crown dreams . A jockey has n't won America 's prestigious Triple Crown -- which includes the Kentucky Derby , Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes -- in over a decade . Rosario may be just the man to break that drought . After scooping Kentucky -- the first race in the Triple Crown -- earlier this month , the hype surrounding him has reached a deafening pitch . This Saturday all eyes will be on Rosario and wonder horse Orb as they attempt to take the second race in the coveted treble -- the Preakness Stakes . They are the bookmakers ' favorites to win , but Rosario remains a calm island in the middle of the media storm . `` The Triple Crown is the biggest achievement in U.S. horse racing and just to win the first race is something very special to me , '' he said . `` Am I going to win on Saturday ? I 'm not sure . But I 'm confident racing , and my horse has a good chance . '' Cool , calm , collected . `` Good chance '' is an understatement . But it 's also indicative of Rosario 's remarkably relaxed attitude to racing . While other jockeys wake at dawn and spend entire days at the stables , Rosario prefers to play his beloved baseball or golf in the afternoons . The country 's top earning jockey usually wakes around 7 a.m. , trains for a few hours , races , and plays sport with his friends when he can . `` He 's a very humble person , he does n't think the sport revolves him , '' said Anderson . `` Anyone who does something 365 days a year might not be quite as good as they 'd like . This is a different mindset -- it 's about trying to keep fresh and excited about racing . '' Ball games . That 's not to say Rosario has n't worked hard to get where he is . But you get the feeling that if he 'd had been just that little bit taller , he would have chosen professional baseball instead of the track . `` Every boy in the Dominican Republic plays baseball . And everyone thinks they 're going to play professionally , '' said Anderson . `` They play it every day of the year . They get out of school and play it until it gets dark . So baseball is really embedded in the national psyche . '' Growing up on a farm , Rosario was just five years old when he started riding horses . But it was n't until he started jockey school that he first laid eyes on the country 's one and only race track . Once he did , he was focused on success , moving to San Francisco and working his way up to the top circuits . Today he is the only jockey from the Dominican Republic to win the Kentucky Derby -- doing so just weeks after his nation also won the World Baseball Classic . Now it seems that for the very first time , the country 's most famous sports star may not be from the ball park after all .
Baseball-mad Dominican Republic 's sporting hero is n't who you 'd think . Introducing Joel Rosario : America 's top jockey , already won over $ 10 million this year . After winning prestigious Triple Crown , he eyes 11 years 's Preakness Stakes . Rosario could be the first jockey in this year to win the America . Triple Crown .