Roberto Pineda (July 29, 1952 - May 3, 1978) was a Mexican jockey who competed in Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States.
Racing at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 3, 1978 Roberto Pineda was in an accident that took his life. Jockey Rudy Turcotte's horse went down which set off a chain reaction collision involving Pineda and jockey James Thornton who was injured. Turcotte suffered a broken neck and other bone fractures that ultimately ruined his career, but Roberto Pineda died from his injuries.
For the Pineda family, this was the second such racing tragedy. Roberto's older brother, Alvaro, a top jockey in California who had won the 1974 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, was also killed in a freak starting gate accident at Santa Anita Park in 1975.
He is survived by his wife Maxine Pineda and two sons Roberto Pineda Jr, Alvaro Cipriano Pineda