Angel Cordero JR

[EMD4ME]

http://www.si.com/vault/1984/04/23/620099/riding-horses-is-the-pleasure-of-his-life

Came across this article and thought about all the awesome memories that Angel has created for many fans.


What is yours?

[BELMONT 6-6-09]

Great rider, arguably the best at getting a cheap horse home on the lead.

[EMD4ME]

My dad, who never bet jockeys told me many a story of always betting cordero in the last race and bailing out many times. I guess cordero to my dad was what Ramon was to me (the only jockey that ever mattered).

[MonmouthParkJoe]

Angel was before my time when I really followed racing. But I can say from my interactions with him on a daily basis this past summer, he is an extremely nice person. Glad to have met and worked with him.

[Elliott Sidewater]

I didn't go to the races in NY very often, but in the 80's I thought Cordero was a very intelligent rider, very attuned to the way a track was playing that day. Also, he rode his mounts the way a handicapper wanted, placed them in the best possible poistion to win if there was a chance to win. His streak of Saratoga riding championships is unrivaled and serves as the mark of a truly great rider.

[Arapola]

Cordero is my all time Favorite.
He was intelligent and aggressive.
He race rode to WIN.
He usually had an affect on the way the race was run.

[onefast99]

2007 Breeders Cup at MP we sat behind him and Todd Pletcher and the owners of English Channel. My daughter was 7 at the time and he spent 30 minutes telling her about the Breeders Cup and how special of a day it was to all in the horse racing industry.

[Prytanis]

Watching him ride, almost daily, since 1974 until his retirement i think he was one of the best! He would ride more than his own horse in a race
I would say that he was better than most,including Ramon!
Having said that, Seattle Slew's loss to Exceller was his doing,IMO

[LottaKash]

My dad, who never bet jockeys told me many a story of always betting cordero in the last race and bailing out many times. I guess cordero to my dad was what Ramon was to me (the only jockey that ever mattered).

EMD, your Dad and I were probably on the same "bailout" horses on many an occasion... :cool:

I always saved a few bucks for the last race of the day if and when Angel was up...

He always seemed to be live no matter the form or the odds....Many times his ride would be just a really good tuneup race, and I always paid attention to his followup rides, just for that reason alone...


He was like Pittsburgh Phil's favorite rider who was, win or lose, "paid for always tryin his best"...always tryin'.... :jump:

[Elliott Sidewater]

Watching him ride, almost daily, since 1974 until his retirement i think he was one of the best! He would ride more than his own horse in a race
I would say that he was better than most,including Ramon!
Having said that, Seattle Slew's loss to Exceller was his doing,IMO
It's not easy to compare champion riders who didn't compete against each other, but having seen enough of both riders, I'd say Cordero and Dominguez were close on the dirt, but Ramon was the best turf rider I've seen in my life, and I've been at this for a very long time. A long time ago, before he was a household name, I bet a horse Dominguez was riding in a cheap claiming race at Delaware Park and the horse was running so bad that I lowered the binoculars.....and then, about 20 seconds later the track announcer was literally screaming the horse's name as Dominguez came whipping and driving to get up and win by a nose. If a rider can shock a track announcer and a veteran horseplayer like that, you never forget it.

[classhandicapper]

Having said that, Seattle Slew's loss to Exceller was his doing,IMO

The 2 toughest horse racing losses of my life didn't involve money. That was one of them. My best friend at the time still jokes that he had me on suicide watch on the ride home after that race.

A big problem for Cordero in that race was that he lost irons on the first turn. There were other things he might have done differently also, but when it's all said and done Cordero was the perfect rider for Slew. Both champions.

[Inner Dirt]

I think it was the 1987 winter meet at Santa Anita in front and on the rail were the place to be but Angel had just come west and it was his first day. I liked his mount but I was worried he would take a while to adapt to the track. Out of fear I made a rare place bet. Angel whips the horse out of the gate, cuts across the field, gets the lead and the rail and wires the field. I got $5.60 to place instead of the $12 and change the horse paid to win.

[mannyberrios]

I think it was the 1987 winter meet at Santa Anita in front and on the rail were the place to be but Angel had just come west and it was his first day. I liked his mount but I was worried he would take a while to adapt to the track. Out of fear I made a rare place bet. Angel whips the horse out of the gate, cuts across the field, gets the lead and the rail and wires the field. I got $5.60 to place instead of the $12 and change the horse paid to win.
What a great story

[EMD4ME]

I think it was the 1987 winter meet at Santa Anita in front and on the rail were the place to be but Angel had just come west and it was his first day. I liked his mount but I was worried he would take a while to adapt to the track. Out of fear I made a rare place bet. Angel whips the horse out of the gate, cuts across the field, gets the lead and the rail and wires the field. I got $5.60 to place instead of the $12 and change the horse paid to win.

And now we have the opposite happening. Jocks who call a track their home, a gold rail appears for weeks, they are lone speed and they rate from the 1st stride to be off the pace and wide. :bang: :lol:

[classhandicapper]

And now we have the opposite happening. Jocks who call a track their home, a gold rail appears for weeks, they are lone speed and they rate from the 1st stride to be off the pace and wide. :bang: :lol:

Yeah, but isn't that how we build our horses to watch lists? ;)

[EMD4ME]

Yeah, but isn't that how we build our horses to watch lists? ;)

Oh yes and then when we pound them back, they rate more, go wider and lose by more :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

And we create our super horses to watch list ;) :lol: :lol: :D

[Broad Brush]

Great topic for a post EMD!!!

Angel was my hero when I was 12 or 13.

I was stuck at Thistledown but I always followed NY racing and he was
a one of a kind.

One of my favorite memories of Angel was when he came to Thistle
to ride Colonel Moran in the Ohio Derby in 1980. He had just run third
in the Preakness behind Codex and Genuine Risk and was 2/5 I think.
I liked/bet a horse named Stone Manor who came from Arlington with a
jockey I was not that familiar with in 1980. He was listed in the program as
"Patrick Allen Day". It was a rainy day and a sloppy track. Colonel Moran was a front runner and he went to the front from the start. "Patrick" had Stone Manor 2nd and he snuck up the inside of Angel going down the backside.

Always
had binoculars back then and I could see Angel coming over and they were bumping. This "Patrick Allen" guy was having none of it and was bumping back. Stone Manor pulled away thru the stretch and won by 3 or so.
I think he paid $14. As I ran down to the winner's circle I was worried
about Angel claiming foul. At Thistle the jockeys weigh out on the side of where the horses pose for the picture and then they must walk by that to get
back to the room. Angel walked up to "Patrick Allen" and shook his hand with
a big smile. To Angel that was just good hard race riding. Foul? What Foul?

I don't remember what NY trainer made the quote but it summed up
Angel and his talent/style. He was asked why he always tried to get Angel
on his horses when he would leave them next time if he had a better mount.
He said: "Because not only is he riding my horse....he is not riding against me".

[classhandicapper]

Oh yes and then when we pound them back, they rate more, go wider and lose by more :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

And we create our super horses to watch list ;) :lol: :lol: :D

I love those back to back against the bias super horses to watch lists. :lol:

[dilanesp]

I'm inclined to say Shoemaker is the best rider that I ever saw (and of course, Shoemaker was, among other things, responsible for the Exceller-Seattle Slew race that was mentioned upthread), but I loved Cordero. We didn't see a lot of him here in California, but he was often brilliant when he was here. My favorite was when he won the Santa Anita Handicap on Broad Brush in a ding-dong battle with Ferdinand. Ferdinand was a better horse than Broad Brush before that race, and was also a better horse than Broad Brush after that race. But somehow Cordero got 150 percent out of BB and won the race by a nose, beating Shoemaker.

I was too young to remember first hand his rides on Bold Forbes, but they sure look great on tape. And opening a 7 length lead on the backstretch and wiring the Derby field on Spend a Buck was spectacular.

The one time I really remember him screwing up, badly, in California was on Groovy in the 1987 BC Sprint. He let Patrick Valenzuela get out in front of him on Very Subtle. He either underestimated Valenzuela, underestimated Very Subtle (who had won back at Saratoga in the summer and who Cordero should have known something about), or both. Cordero burned a ton of bettors' money in that race.

[EMD4ME]

I love those back to back against the bias super horses to watch lists. :lol:

And then sometimes, we get the 3 times super choked against the bias and kept in the main track (while others are on inner track), triple super kaduper horses to follow.

By then we're either broke or too scared or too dizzy (like Mike Tyson after Buster Douglas whacked him good) and we watch the horse win by 3 at 14/1 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: WHILE others are choked out, kept wide on a gold rail speed biased track. (and we're too densitized to make notes on THOSE horses as it's now an infinite domino of horses to follow :D :D :D :D :lol: :lol: ).

In case someone doesn't know, I was kidding the whole way :lol: :lol:

[classhandicapper]

In case someone doesn't know, I was kidding the whole way :lol: :lol:

Only half way. ;)

[EMD4ME]

Only half way. ;)


Yes, I admit it :lol: :lol: :lol:

[EMD4ME]

Great topic for a post EMD!!!

Angel was my hero when I was 12 or 13.

I was stuck at Thistledown but I always followed NY racing and he was
a one of a kind.

One of my favorite memories of Angel was when he came to Thistle
to ride Colonel Moran in the Ohio Derby in 1980. He had just run third
in the Preakness behind Codex and Genuine Risk and was 2/5 I think.
I liked/bet a horse named Stone Manor who came from Arlington with a
jockey I was not that familiar with in 1980. He was listed in the program as
"Patrick Allen Day". It was a rainy day and a sloppy track. Colonel Moran was a front runner and he went to the front from the start. "Patrick" had Stone Manor 2nd and he snuck up the inside of Angel going down the backside.

Always
had binoculars back then and I could see Angel coming over and they were bumping. This "Patrick Allen" guy was having none of it and was bumping back. Stone Manor pulled away thru the stretch and won by 3 or so.
I think he paid $14. As I ran down to the winner's circle I was worried
about Angel claiming foul. At Thistle the jockeys weigh out on the side of where the horses pose for the picture and then they must walk by that to get
back to the room. Angel walked up to "Patrick Allen" and shook his hand with
a big smile. To Angel that was just good hard race riding. Foul? What Foul?

I don't remember what NY trainer made the quote but it summed up
Angel and his talent/style. He was asked why he always tried to get Angel
on his horses when he would leave them next time if he had a better mount.
He said: "Because not only is he riding my horse....he is not riding against me".

Broad Broash, awesome stuff. EXACTLY what I was looking to hear. Untold stories like this :ThmbUp:

[Robert Fischer]

My dad, who never bet jockeys told me many a story of always betting cordero in the last race and bailing out many times. I guess cordero to my dad was what Ramon was to me (the only jockey that ever mattered).


My father told me, that when he briefly met Cordero (late 70s / early 80s?), he greeted Cordero with "Angel, You are the best."

I asked if that was his real opinion or if it was just something cool/nice to say, and he said that was his opinion.

I can't vouch that my father was correct.
I can't claim his opinion is 'infallible', but he had an above average eye for sports, and he loved horse racing. That's my story on a jock that was a bit before my time. :ThmbUp:

[pandy]

Cordero was probably the best I've seen, but since I lived in NY and went to the track a lot, I didn't get to see Shoe, Pincay, and the other west coast riders.

Cordero got a lot out of a horse and was very good from the gate, but he was also a very rough rider who would put other riders in tough spots. He was a very tactical rider in that way, always keeping an eye on the horse he thought he had to beat. He got a lot of suspensions. So did Eddie Arcaro, who was before my time.

Herve Filion, one of the all time greatest harness drivers, was a lot like Cordero in that he also tried to drive more than one horse in a race. He boxed guys in, pushed them wide, cut them off, all of the same things that Cordero did.

[EasyGoer89]

cKraM1tooYA

[Inner Dirt]

I'm inclined to say Shoemaker is the best rider that I ever saw (and of course, Shoemaker was, among other things, responsible for the Exceller-Seattle Slew race that was mentioned upthread), but I loved Cordero. We didn't see a lot of him here in California, but he was often brilliant when he was here. My favorite was when he won the Santa Anita Handicap on Broad Brush in a ding-dong battle with Ferdinand. Ferdinand was a better horse than Broad Brush before that race, and was also a better horse than Broad Brush after that race. But somehow Cordero got 150 percent out of BB and won the race by a nose, beating Shoemaker.

I was too young to remember first hand his rides on Bold Forbes, but they sure look great on tape. And opening a 7 length lead on the backstretch and wiring the Derby field on Spend a Buck was spectacular.

The one time I really remember him screwing up, badly, in California was on Groovy in the 1987 BC Sprint. He let Patrick Valenzuela get out in front of him on Very Subtle. He either underestimated Valenzuela, underestimated Very Subtle (who had won back at Saratoga in the summer and who Cordero should have known something about), or both. Cordero burned a ton of bettors' money in that race.

Very Subtle was a faster horse early, Pine Tree Lane was real quick also, but lacked stamina ,that race unfolded pretty much to form, if you were making accurate pace figures. Cordero was well aware by then of how well speed did in sprints at both Hollywood and Santa Anita he just didn't have the horse.

[dilanesp]

[/b]Very Subtle was a faster horse early, Pine Tree Lane was real quick also, but lacked stamina ,that race unfolded pretty much to form, if you were making accurate pace figures. Cordero was well aware by then of how well speed did in sprints at both Hollywood and Santa Anita he just didn't have the horse.

I actually bet Very Subtle (she paid good!). I didn't have pace numbers but I did know how fast she was. But I was still surprised (and happy) when Cordero took back.

[classhandicapper]

Those were some serious sprinters.

[Inner Dirt]

[/b]Very Subtle was a faster horse early, Pine Tree Lane was real quick also, but lacked stamina ,that race unfolded pretty much to form, if you were making accurate pace figures. Cordero was well aware by then of how well speed did in sprints at both Hollywood and Santa Anita he just didn't have the horse.



I actually bet Very Subtle (she paid good!). I didn't have pace numbers but I did know how fast she was. But I was still surprised (and happy) when Cordero took back.


I was doing my own Beyer's back then and that was my basis for the pace figures. I lived in Southern California 45 miles east of Santa Anita at the time. It appears you lived in the area also and if you remember at the time the local OTBs and tracks did not do full card simulcasting yet of East Coast tracks only the occasional feature event. Full East Coast froms were no where to be found. I frequently went to Aqua Caliente in Tijuana Mexico
If you ever went they did full card simulcasting from quite a few tracks. Just going on a Sunday I could usually get enough issues to make variants for the major East Coast tracks.

I was quite studious in that era in my late 20's I was ahead of my time. Unfortunately poor money management left me with small overall returns, I made money back then but probably $5k a year with my hobby instead of the $20k+ it should have been. I typically could not pass a race and quite often it not ahead by a significant amount would bet it all on the last race, even if there were no stand outs.

[mannyberrios]

Angel, you are the best ever

[paulbenny]

He was tough. I believe he would intimidate the opposition and was fearless. Not so common today. A real icon of the game. I love him.

[Run Nicholas Run]

going back to aqueduct back in the 70's and 80's, there was always that
cordero fan on the second floor that would yell "best in the business" during the post parade when "the monkey" had a mount, what was funny was when moneky was out of town , this guy would yell it for velasquez in the post parade.

[thespaah]

http://www.si.com/vault/1984/04/23/620099/riding-horses-is-the-pleasure-of-his-life

Came across this article and thought about all the awesome memories that Angel has created for many fans.


What is yours?
His ride on Bold Forbes in the '76 Belmont.
I believe one writer used this...." Cordero had to carry Forbes under the wire"....

[aaron]

The most amazing thing about Angel,is that he was so good that he was the best rider, despite not being used by many of the top trainers.Didn't ride for Woody Stephens much, but still won the Derby for him.His Saratoga record speaks for it self. A smart brilliant tactician and rider.

[Twin Double]

My dad, who never bet jockeys told me many a story of always betting cordero in the last race and bailing out many times. I guess cordero to my dad was what Ramon was to me (the only jockey that ever mattered).

That's hilarious! My dad was a major Cordero fan. He acts like the 1980 Preakness was the greatest strategic ride of all time with Cordero having Codex force Genuine Risk wide.