In 1967, he was voted the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award which honors a rider whose career and personal conduct exemplifies the very best example of participants in the sport of thoroughbred racing.
[2] Out of five appearances in the Kentucky Derby, his best result came in 1980 edition when he rode Elmendorf Farm's Super Moment to a fourth-place finish.
Between 1969 and 1973, Pierce set a California stakes race record by winning five straight editions of the Los Angeles Handicap.
[4] During his career, Don Pierce won riding titles at New York state's Saratoga Race Course and Belmont Park.
In 2010 he was back to a familiar lifestyle, getting up in the middle of the night to get to work by 4:30 am at the Del Mar track to be part of the clocker crew.