Cordero Puts Best Muddy Foot Forward

He is a 53-year-old trainer bringing a horse to a Triple Crown race for the first time.

He still was scrambling to find a jockey just hours before the Preakness draw Wednesday.

His horse is listed as a 50-1 shot Saturday at Pimlico.

Not exactly a foreshadowing of glory.

Why was he drawing big crowds of reporters yesterday at the stakes barn?

Because he is Angel Cordero Jr., the Hall of Fame jockey and winner of perhaps the most infamous Preakness ever, now a struggling trainer with mud on his shoes, looking for his break.

“Maybe this is the horse that will open some doors for me,” he said with a big smile after leading his horse, Feather Box, back from a workout in the cool mist.

Not that he expects Feather Box to win Saturday. A grandson of Kentucky Derby winner Pleasant Colony, Feather Box has two wins in nine career starts. He ran third in the Gotham Stakes and fifth in the Wood Memorial. He has never won a stakes race.

“I’m just glad he isn’t 100-1,” Cordero said.

Not exactly a portrait of confidence. But Cordero is here nonetheless, because the horse is starting to improve in a hurry after fighting a cold this spring.

“He has ability,” Cordero said. “I don’t think he’s going to win (the Preakness), but he’s going to win one of these races. His best shot might be in the Belmont. He’s bred for it.”

Regardless of what happens, just getting a decent horse into a Triple Crown race is a step forward for Cordero, who has been training in New York for five years after retiring from riding.

As with most new trainers, he has struggled to find owners willing to give him horses.

“I started from scratch as a rider, and this is harder,” he said.

He has 18 horses in his barn now, including a handful of well-bred young horses, so things are looking up. But he still needs that big win to establish his credibility.

He had many big wins as a jockey, of course, including three Kentucky Derbies and two Preaknesses. His first Preakness win, aboard Codex in 1980, still causes veins to bulge in the racing world.

For those who don’t remember, 1980 was the year in which Genuine Risk became the first filly in 65 years to win the Kentucky Derby. She was challenging for the lead at the head of the stretch in the Preakness when Cordero and Codex cut her off, took her wide and stifled her run. Codex won easily, and a huge controversy ensued.

Genuine Risk’s jockey claimed Cordero had hit the filly. Pimlico’s stewards disagreed and upheld the result. Genuine Risk’s owner then filed a complaint with the Maryland Racing Commission. The result was upheld again at a hearing that took four days.

The brouhaha was a nightmare for Cordero. Out of nowhere, he was viewed as an anti-feminist.

“I got angry letters for a year and a half,” he said. “People said I was against women, that I was bad for racing. They called me names, insulted my color, my mother, you name it. Some of them said they were going to kill me.”

The response was so intense that racing officials in New York assigned a security detail to follow Cordero home every night.

“I think back to those days every time I come here,” Cordero said. “My name was dragged through the mud, and I never did anything wrong.”

He didn’t abuse the filly?

“I didn’t touch her,” he said. “I just held my ground instead of moving to the inside. I was just trying to win the race.”

He was at the epicenter of the racing world in those days and throughout his riding career, but all that ended when he retired and became a trainer.

“I used to ride in private helicopters, fly first-class, get free tickets to anything I wanted,” he said. “Now, nothing. Everyone went away, and I had to start over from scratch. My people in Puerto Rico think I died. I don’t mind. I knew I had to go through this. I’m just paying my dues again.”

His father and grandfather trained, so the job is in his blood. He is at ease in the barns, a loud and happy figure.

“I know I’m going to succeed; I just don’t know when,” he said. “But I’m a pro. I rode for 32 years. I’ve been in the stalls since I was 3. I’d be pretty stupid if I hadn’t learned something.”

The life seldom is easy, though. His Preakness jockey, Richard Migliore, pulled out Wednesday morning.

“His agent called and said we had a little problem,” Cordero said. “I said, ‘We don’t have a little problem; we have a big problem.’ ”

Cordero gave the mount to his former rival and great friend, Jorge Velasquez.

What would Cordero do if he pulled a miracle and won the Preakness with Velasquez?

“First thing, I’d have to get some oxygen to get over the shock,” he said. “Then I’d be happy, because the people in Puerto Rico would know I was alive again.”