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By Mark Berner On a rainy Sunday afternoon at Belmont Park jockey John Velazquez was astride a nine-year-old Thoroughbred that hadn't won in 28 starts, dating back to May 28, 2004. However on September 28, 2008, Rouge Agent and Velazquez, wearing orange silks, stood out like a beacon under a gray sky. The pair took command in the homestretch, drew away emphatically in the final eighth-mile, and won the day's first race by six lengths. That win was the 4,000th victory of Velazquez's 18-year career and One Fein Stable's chestnut gelding, trained by Peter Walder, increased his record to 8-for-60.
There were 3,472 in attendance at Belmont Park for win No. 4,000. A brief celebration in the
winner's circle with 5 fellow riders, several valets and other jockey's room personnel followed
the race. In contrast, Velazquez recorded win No. 3,000 on July 29, 2004, at Saratoga Race Course on a day when more than 35,000 fans serendipitously received a John Velazquez bobble-head doll.
Velazquez had won two Grade 1 stakes the day before at Santa Anita Park, and three races -
including the Massachusetts Handicap - at Suffolk Downs the previous weekend. But just like many athletes approaching a milestone, Velazquez was in a bit of a slump at the Belmont Park meeting with just 4 wins from 77 starters. "This was probably the hardest 10 winners of my career," Velazquez said. "It feels great to put it behind me and move on to other things."
"He got to 4,000 quicker than I did," said retired Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero, Jr., now his agent. "We had a great meeting at Saratoga," said Cordero. "I went through it, too. When an athlete gets close to accomplishing something big they slow down big time. Unfortunately he went through that. It's over and we can get back to normal and win on an everyday basis."
The relationship between the two native Puerto Ricans goes much deeper than rider and agent. Cordero was Velazquez's hero when he was growing up. He began to watch the elder jockey as a child before he enrolled in El Commandante Jockey School in 1988. "I learned a lot from him," Velazquez said of Cordero. "He was much more aggressive as a rider, but I learned a lot of his moves." Velazquez had the best opportunity to learn from his childhood hero because he lived with Cordero when he first came to New York in 1990. "I came here when I was 18 and I didn't have any family," Velazquez said. "It was great for me, I felt like part of the family."
"I feel Johnny is like my son I never had to become a jockey," said Cordero, who's father was
a rider and trainer. "I have kids, but none of them ever wanted to become jockeys. It was always my dream. It never happened. So, he's like the son that I missed."
Velazquez, 36, has accomplished some of the achievements as his 65-year-old mentor and seems a shoe-in to follow him into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame. He said he wasn't ready to make a commitment to continue riding long enough to eclipse Cordero's final win total of 7,057 because it's tough to balance family life with the extensive travel required to ride the top horses. At 5' 6" Velazquez is tall for a jockey but the natural light-weight not only has physical strength that belies his 109-pound frame, he also has strength of character and
personal discipline. Velazquez was elected chairman of the board of the Jockey's Guild in
2006. A two-time eclipse award winner as the nation's leading rider in 2004 and 2005,
Velazquez won numerous local titles and has been a top-ten rider in New York every year since 1991. He has won seven Breeders' Cup races and last year's Belmont Stakes, but he admitted winning the Kentucky Derby is a goal he still wants to achieve.
Hero and worshiper, student and pupil, father and son, Cordero and Velazquez once competed against each other, were involved in a four-horse accident at Aqueduct in 1992 that virtually ended Cordero's career, and now they work together as a team. In fact, Cordero exercises some of the same horses in morning workouts that Velazquez rides in the afternoon races. "He's the one I want to carry the baton...to carry on what I started," said Cordero. "And it seems to me that he's done it." |
