Angel Cordero Jr.

His complete name is Angel Tomas Cordero Jr., and was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico on 8th November of 1942.

When he retired in 1992 he had won 7076 races and he had ridden 38,684 races during 22 years as professional jockey getting in prizes more than 5 millions dollars per year, between 1977 and 1990 which represents a complete record with a total amount of Usd 164,571,847, highlight among his greatest achievements three Kentucky Derbys, two Preakness Stakes and in two occasions he was the winner of the Eclipse. Moreover, in the BC he got four victories, seven second and seven third places in 48 races which he rode, obtaining the seven best place in earnings as jockey in the BC with Usd 6,020,000.

Angel Cordero Jr. had an only ambition when he rode a horse, to win and many will think as all jockey, but Angel Cordero was different, he had character, intelligence, and above he was very energetic and hard in the arrival.

He belonged to a humbled family of Puerto Rico with scare economical resources and he had as an ambition to triumph in the life in what he liked, to be a professional jockey. He began in the Apprentices School of Puerto Rico obtaining the jockey license in 1961 being 19 years old and ridding his first race one year later, in 1962, when he rode 41 races obtaining a first place, eight second and five thirds places, with earnings around Usd 11,000, but the trainers started already to value his qualities as a jockey and the following year, in 1963, he would arrive to run 532 races, getting 105 first, 70 second and 84 third places, obtaining the tittle of the best apprentice of 1963.

With the passage of time he had the opportunity to emigrate to the United States where he triumphed as what he was, a complete champion of the American tracks, winning practically all the American Classic.

He won in three occasions the Kentucky Derby in the following years:

In two occasions won the Preakness Stakes with Codex in 1980 and 1984 with Gate Dancer and in 1976 he got the victory in the Belmont Stakes with Bold Forbes. This year he could not win the Preakness Stakes with Bold Forbes and for this reason he did not obtain the Triple Crown.

Other important victories were in the BC, winning in 1985 with Life's Magic in the BC Distaff, in 1988 with Open Mind, in the BC Juvenile Fillies winning this same year with Gulch in the BC Sprint, both horses trained by Wayne Lukas and his last victory was also in the BC Sprint with Dancing Spree in 1989, being the seventh jockey who has ridden in more occasions the BC, the same that Jose Santos with 48.

Angel Cordero Jr was a Caribbean jockey and always he could, he disputed the Grand Caribbean Classics, among them the big race which it is celebrated in the El Comandante Racecourse in Puerto Rico, but he never got a victory in this race, the nearest position was a second place in the year 1966 with Forbes and two third places in 1982 and 1983.

In the year of 1986 he had the opportunity to ride the horse winner of the Classic of the Caribbean, Ray Laser, but Angel Cordero Jr. requested Usd 3,000 to go to ride to Puerto Rico and the owner did not want to pay this amount, looking for another jockey to ride to the horse, and finally the jockey was Rafael Torrealba who won with Ray Laser and the amount of Usd 15,000, with which was endowed the first place

Angel Cordero Jr., along his career had important falls in the tracks. Thus, his first important fall took place in 1978 in Hollywood Park, suffering a back fracture and eight years later he had a fracture of the left leg and hepatic injuries after falling in Aqueduct Park in New York.

On 12 of January of 1992 at the age of 49, he retired definitely from the tracks when he had a new fall in Aqueduct Park, having to be operated of urgencies in which his spleen was extracted, suffering fracture of the elbow and four ribs broken, remaining during nine days in the Unit of Intensive Cares due to his extreme gravity.

He decided to retire to begin his career as trainer in Puerto Rico, where again he continued riding during a short period of time in 1995. He was agent of several jockeys too, among them, John Velazquez.

The tragedy arrived to his life on 22 January of 2001 when his wife Marjorie was knocked down by a car while she was running at the age of 41 years.

Marjorie Cordero was, the same of Angel Cordero Jr., a professional jockey, arriving to be one of the most popular persons in the races of New York, ridding between 1982 and 1985, earning more than one million dollars in prizes in 71 victories over 911 races. Marjorie rode her first horse for the trainer Nick Zito on 3 January of 1982 and she won her first race with Solandra in Keystone, Pennsylvania on 10th June of 1983.

Among the information concerning Angel Cordero Jr., there is a curiosity and it is that the year in which he won more races was in 1982 with 397 victories but is not the same year in which he rode more races, in 1980 with 1,888 races, neither is the same year when he more money earned, in 1989 with Usd 12,219,159.