Nakatani is married to his second wife, Lisa, and has two daughters, Lilah and Brittany, and two sons, Matthew, who currently plays football for the University of Louisville, and Austin. Brittany, Matthew, and Austin are from a previous marriage to Michele Dollase, daughter of trainer Wallace Dollase. His late father Roy Nakatani, a Japanese American, was born in a World War II internment camp and spent time at Santa Anita Park when it was a relocation camp. Corey's mother is Marie Nakatani and he is one of ten children.
Racing career
Corey was a champion high school wrestler who became intrigued by racing after visiting Santa Anita with his father after a wrestling tournament at the age of sixteen. Nakatani eventually approached horse trainer Roger Stein for work. After three days of mucking out stalls and walking horses, he decided he wanted to ride even though he had never been on a horse before. Stein then suggested that he get some experience on a working farm, so he learned the ropes on the Thoroughbred farm of Tony Matos. He then went on and broke and galloped horses for Johnny Longden and Longden's son, Eric Longden before starting his career as a jockey. He graduated from jockey school in Castaic, California, and won his first race, a dead heat, in Caliente, Mexico in 1988 aboard Blue King. He moved to Southern California in April 1989, and became the leading apprentice jockey that same year. His current residence is Southern California.[3][4]
Nakatani won his 3,500th race at Aqueduct Racetrack on November 17, 2011, aboard Grand Strategy in the eighth race of the day.[4]
In the 2015 Kentucky Derby, won by American Pharoah, Nakatani was the jockey of Frammento, which placed 15th. Weeks earlier, the jockey had broken his collarbone in a March 17 spill at Santa Anita. In the 2014 Kentucky Derby, he finished sixth on Dance With Fate.
Nakatani was badly injured in a spill at Del Mar in August 2018, suffering multiple compression fractures and herniated discs.[5] Nakatani never returned to the saddle and formally announced his retirement as a jockey on November 23, 2019, in a statement through his son and jockey agent Matt.[5]