ExNorthern California jockey will run in four races
After 10 years at Golden Gate Fields and other Northern California racetracks, jockey Abel Cedillo decided he was ready for the challenge of Santa Anita and Del Mar.
Cedillo has proved up to it, and this weekend, he’ll have four mounts in the Breeders’ Cup: War Beast in the $1 million Juvenile Turf and Comical in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies on Friday and Paradise Woods in the $2 million Distaff and Mongolian Groom in the $6 million Classic on Saturday.
“It’s been amazing,” Cedillo said in a telephone interview. “My dream is coming true right now. I’m so excited, and it’s going to be a great week.”
Cedillo moved south in June after winning his third straight riding title at Golden Gate Fields’winterspring season with a careerhigh 134 victories.
“If you come here, you better have a good chance and a good agent, too,” Cedillo said. “I didn’t have that opportunity before. When I came here, I wanted to ride like I did at Golden Gate Fields, with confidence.”
Cedillo arranged to be represented by Tom Knust, one of Southern California’s top jockey agents. Knust is a close friend of standout trainer Doug O’Neill, who put Cedillo on good horses from the start.
“He had a really good reputation when he was up there,” Knust said. “And when he got here, he had a really good work ethic. People knew he could ride, so Doug gave us some opportunities to begin with. Then (Phil) D’Amato, (Richard) Baltas, (Mark) Glatt. All he needed was an opportunity.”
Cedillo rode a careerhigh 200 winners in 2018 and has 183 this year. Reflecting the higher quality of horses he’s now riding, his mounts have earned $5,147,327 this year — already beating his previous best of $3,371,883 in 2018.
Cedillo won with two of 20 mounts at the end of Santa Anita’s winterspring season, then finished third in the jockey standings at Del Mar with 25 winners. He leads Santa Anita’s fall season with 19 winners to Flavien Prat’s 18.
“We had been watching him from Southern California just be really so successful up there,” O’Neill said. “When he came down here and hooked up with Tom, it was a nobrainer. I’d put him on anything he wanted to ride. My barn and my owners couldn’t be happier having Abel ride their horses.”
In the first week of the current Santa Anita season, Cedillo won the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes with Mongolian Groom, the Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes with Paradise Woods and the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship with Cleopatra’s Strike.
Earlier in the month, he won the Grade 2 Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs aboard O’Neilltrained Lazy Daisy and finished second in three other graded events.
“He’s got an uncanny ability to get along with horses,” O’Neill said. “He’s got a grateful mindset and personality. His demeanor rubs off on all the horses; horses are happy to have him as their jockey. He generally gets the best out of every horse he rides.”
Cedillo, 30, was born and raised in Guatemala and began his jockey career in 2009 in Florida, where his father worked on a thoroughbred farm in Ocala. But he didn’t finish better than sixth in 14 mounts at Calder Race Course.
“I have family in Oakland, too, and when they were trying to help me with my visa, they told me it was easier to ride out here,” Cedillo said. “That’s why I made the decision to come to California.” Larry Stumes is a freelance writer.