C. C. Lopez Riding High on El Kabeir

 

Riding El Kabeir in what Lopez called the "most important race" of his entire career, the 54-year-old jockey deftly threaded the colt from far back and through a field of nine other 3-year-olds onto a 2 ¾-length victory in the Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham. The win put El Kabeir atop the "Road to the Roses" qualifying system with 75 points and Lopez in position to achieve something that has eluded him for 36 years - a Grade 1 victory, as El Kabeir's next stop will be New York's final prep race for the May 3 Kentucky Derby, the $1 million Twinspires.com Wood Memorial on April 4.

 

Lopez has long been a fan favorite during the winter months on the Big A's inner track, which he affectionately refers to as "my domain." Although he is primarily known as a speed rider, his patience aboard El Kabeir when the colt got shuffled back at the start of the Gotham was a key factor in his victory.

 

"All I could do was make it worse by panicking," said Lopez. "One of my three kids said I looked like Bill Shoemaker out there. I could only wish."

 

The Gotham victory was not only the biggest win of Lopez' career, it was the first victory in a month for the 4-foot-11 Brooklynite, who is trying to claw his way back into the mainstream riding against talented youngsters half his age. Although he has ridden more than 4,000 winners and dozens of graded stakes, Lopez has seen some tough times since his agent of 20 years, Joe Rosen, passed away several years ago. In 2009, Lopez rode 139 winners of nearly $4.8 million, but those figures dropped to 42 winners of $1.28 million in 2013 and the same number of winners for $1.8 million in 2014 while riding at Tampa Bay Downs and in Indiana.

 

"It was horrible," recalled Lopez. "I decided to come back, and some of the guys offered to help me out, but it quickly fizzled out. Things have been so slow ... prior to yesterday, I had nine winners since I've been back. Yesterday was so important, and my only wish was that Joe Rosen was here to see it."

 

Lopez credits his current wife, former trainer Bobbi Rossi, with helping him through those dark days, and El Kabeir, whom he has ridden to win the Grade 3 Jerome and finish second in the Grade 3 Withers, for bringing him one step closer to a lifelong dream.

 

"Here I have a real chance to get that Grade 1 win off my bucket list," said Lopez, who came closest to realizing that dream when he finished second in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile to Corinthian with Gottcha Gold. "There are so many things that can happen all the time in horse racing ... you never know when people want to make a change, so I've been riding one race at a time with no pressure, no projections."

 

Sunday morning, however, Lopez spoke with the colt's owner, Ahmed Zayat, who assured him he has the mount on El Kabeir.