Apprentice Cancel just might have what it takes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – His career is all of six weeks old, but already Eric Cancel has some convinced that he has a bright future as a jockey in North America.

Since riding his first mount in the U.S. on March 1, Cancel, 18, has won 10 races from 63 mounts, achieving success at the prestigious Gulfstream Park winter meet before moving his tack to New York two weeks ago. He is a seven-pound apprentice. He will become a five-pound apprentice after he wins his 40th race and will be able to ride with that weight allowance until next March.

“He could be the next big-name bug boy in New York,” said trainer Gary Contessa, for whom Cancel has won two races from eight mounts.

That was not Contessa’s first impression. Contessa put him on horses because he was being represented by the Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero Jr., but he was less than pleased early on.

“I put him on four horses the first week, and his rides were tentative, and he made mistake after mistake,” Contessa said. “His fifth ride for me was really good, and his subsequent rides have been good. If they learn quickly and don’t make the same mistakes, I think they could have a future. But my first thought was, ‘What did I get myself into?’ ”

That Cordero agreed to not only help teach Cancel but to represent him has helped open the door for the rider. Cancel spent many mornings working horses for trainer Kelly Breen, whose primary clients, George and Lori Hall, are friends of Cordero.

Breen said Cancel has worked more than 20 horses for him, and he has given Cancel four mounts. Breen put Cancel on Money’soncharlotte in the Grade 2 Gazelle Stakes at Aqueduct, and she finished third.

“I wouldn’t say the rides were perfect, but he’s going to learn,” Breen said. “The filly did clip the rail at the three-sixteenths pole, but she came running. I really like Eric. He’s put his time in at my barn. He’s learning, he’s a student of the game, and he’s got one of the greatest teachers in the game in Angel Cordero.”

Cancel is a native of Puerto Rico. His father, Efran Cancel, and mother, Gezzela Algarin, were both jockeys. Algarin went to jockey school with John Velazquez, the Hall of Fame rider who is represented by Cordero.

Cancel attended Escuela Vocacional Hipica, the same jockey school that produced Irad and Jose Ortiz and Manny Franco, who in 2014 were the first-, second- and fifth-leading riders on the New York Racing Association circuit.

Cordero was contacted by a friend of his in Puerto Rico to help Cancel. Cordero, knowing the time and effort it takes to get an unknown jockey started, initially declined.

But Velazquez has told Cordero that he likely will retire in two years, so Cordero eventually will need a new rider, and he liked what he saw from Cancel on tape.

“When I looked at the film, he looked more like a rider than the other ones did at that point,” Cordero said, referring to the Ortiz brothers and Franco. “He was more advanced. You hope he stays in a good frame of mind because everybody knows that he’s got talent.”

At Gulfstream, Cancel rode two winners for Peter Walder and one each for Norman Pointer, Wesley Ward, and Kirk Ziadie. In addition to Contessa, Cancel has ridden winners at Aqueduct for Dominick Schettino, John Terranova, and Luis Miranda.

Apprentice Angel Cruz has ascended to the top of the Aqueduct jockey standings with four three-win days. Cancel put together a pair of two-win days.

Cancel, like so many have before him, goes over tapes of his rides with Cordero.

“He’s been really valuable to me,” Cancel said. “He gives me a lot of instruction on how to ride a horse. When I ride bad, he’ll fix it. He’ll tell me, ‘You did this wrong.’ Every bug boy wants to have a good agent. Mine was an extraordinary jockey.”

Cancel said he is looking forward to riding with some of the top jockeys in the game during the Belmont Park meet.

“They have more experience, but little by little you’ll be learning more, and riding with them is pretty good because you’ll be seeing them and learning new habits from them, and that will make you more sharp,” Cancel said.

“If he stays sound – like a horse – there is no doubt about it, he can make it,” Cordero said. “I know he’s still a kid, but he’s got the talent.”