Angel Cordero

When he came to Europe, and rode them all to sleep, everyone said that Steve Cauthen had a clock in his head. If a Swiss watchmaker wanted to check his work, he could just ask Cauthen to go five-eighths in a minute flat. But all that precision seemingly ran askew when it came to counting his years, each of which might have compressed a decade. As Laz Barrera said, when the press asked him about keeping "The Kid" on his Derby horse: "Stevie Cauthen doesn't come from this planet. He's...

The 15th annual jockeys-versus-horsemen charity basketball game, which benefits the programs of the New York Race Track Chaplaincy, this year in partnership with the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, will be played Aug. 1 at the Saratoga Springs Recreation Center beginnning at 7 p.m. The jockey team will once again be coached by Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero, Jr., with trainer Todd Pletcher and agent Kiaran McLaughlin coaching the horsemen team. Mitch Levites of the NYRA TV department will once again serve as the game's announcer. "This annual game is...

Hall of Fame jockeys Angel Cordero, Jr. and Ramon Dominguez will be signing autographs to benefit the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame at Saratoga Race Course this weekend  at the museum's satellite location at the track, the former Saratoga Walk of Fame space. Cordero will be signing on Saturday from noon to 1 p.m., while Dominguez will sign on Sunday, from noon to 1 p.m. Renowned artist Greg Montgomery has produced exclusive limited-edition poster prints of Cordero and Dominguez for the signings. Each autographed poster is $20....

Officially, SMALL is a one-man show, written and performed by Robert (Bobby) Montano, the story of his years-long attempt to maintain riding weight and the lengths he went to in order to do so. But it would be more appropriately described as a show with over a dozen roles, all played by Montano. Over 85 minutes, Montano slides in and out of different characters that all of us in racing will recognize, from Bob and Sue Duncan to Robert Pineda to Mickey Preger to stereotypical assistant trainers and fellow exercise...

When Trevor McCarthy went down in a spill Friday at Aqueduct and broke his collar bone and his pelvis, retired rider Richard Migliore said he was upset but not surprised. Migliore, whose son Joe Migliore is McCarthy's jockey agent, said he had been growing increasingly concerned as New York riders continued to be more and more aggressive while the stewards seem to look the other way. Something like this, he figured, was bound to happen, he said. "People run into each other now with impunity," said Migliore, an analyst on...

It was a relatively quiet Thursday last week when jockey John Velazquez registered his 1,000th victory at Saratoga, extending his record as the winningest jockey in Spa history. Sifting through the archives to get a feel for what was going on in the sport when Johnny V. won his first career race at Saratoga back on Aug. 5, 1990, yields a heady mix of nostalgia tinged with kismet. Although not considered a truly "historic" day of racing at the Spa, there are enough intriguing nuggets buried within the charts and...

Flavien Prat is a world-class jockey, a future Hall of Famer who dominated the Southern California circuit before heading east. Yet, he entered the week tied for fourth-place in the Saratoga jockey standings, 15 wins behind the leader, Irad Ortiz, Jr. Tyler Gaffalione is the top jockey in Kentucky and is coming off a meet at Churchill Downs where he was leading rider and had 29 more wins than the runner-up. He began the week in ninth-place in the Saratoga standings. That's no reflection on Prat or Gaffalione. What it...

Edited Press Release The 13th annual jockeys-versus-horsemen charity basketball game, which benefits the programs of the New York Race Track Chaplaincy (NYRTC), will be played Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022, at the Saratoga Springs Recreation Center at 6:30 p.m. The game is one of the most popular events on the Saratoga social calendar and routinely attracts more than 300 fans. Admission is free. The jockey team will once again be coached by Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero, Jr., with trainer Todd Pletcher and agent Kiaran McLaughlin coaching the horsemen team....

Seventeen Hall of Fame jockeys--a list that includes former Monmouth Park leading riders Don Brumfield, Julie Krone and Craig Perret--will be on hand when the seventh annual Jockeys and Jeans Fundraiser holds its annual event at Monmouth Park on Sept. 11. All of the proceeds from the event go directly to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund. In addition to honoring seven riders who suffered catastrophic or career-ending injuries, this year's fundraiser will honor firemen and police officers on the 20th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center towers....

The New York Race Track Chaplaincy announced the 2021 renewal of its Champions Talk fundraiser will feature five retired champion jockeys--Ángel Cordero Jr., Chris McCarron, Richard Migliore, Laffit Pincay Jr. and Jorge Velasquez. The quintet won over 34,000 races. The fundraiser will premiere on the organization's YouTube Channel and Facebook page Aug. 11, 2021. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., a three-time Eclipse award winner, will also be honored in recognition of his dedication and support of the backstretch community in New York. Durkin, the former New York Racing Association announcer, will...

Confirming a report from Bill Finley in the Nov. 11 edition of the TDN, Sackatoga Stable's Tiz the Law (Constitution) will train on in 2021 as a 4-year-old, with the $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park Jan. 23 as his target. In a release pushed across its social media channels Thursday afternoon, Sackatoga announced that Manny Franco, who had ridden Tiz the Law to victories in the GI Curlin Florida Derby, GI Belmont S. and GI Runhappy Travers S. and to a runner-up effort to Authentic (Into...

Angel Cordero, Jr., Dale Romans, Ramon Dominguez and Terry Finley discussed some of their fondest racing memories in the New York Race Track Chaplaincy's Champions TALK roundtable Wednesday evening. It can be viewed here. The discussion, filmed at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, NY, was moderated by former track announcer Tom Durkin. Viewers are encouraged to make a donation to the chaplaincy. The organizations two annual fund-raising events in Saratoga Springs, NY were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the discussion, the NY Chaplaincy also honored the...