Apprentice Charlie Marquez comes to Belmont Park, with Cordero as agent

ELMONT, N.Y. – Apprentice jockey Charlie Marquez, 17, will begin riding at Belmont Park on Friday, having moved his tack from Laurel. He will be represented by Angel Cordero Jr., the Hall of Fame rider who also is the agent for Manny Franco.

Marquez is the son of jockey Carlos Marquez Jr. and the grandson of Carlos Marquez Sr., whom Cordero said he rode with in the 1970s. Carlos Marquez Sr. also was a teacher at Puerto Rico’s Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school.

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Charlie Marquez has ridden 63 winners from 394 mounts in 2020. He finished third in the standings at Laurel’s winter/spring meet and was third again at the recently concluded summer meet.

In an interview with the Laurel Park publicity department, Marquez said he was looking forward to teaming up with Cordero.

“He’s a great mentor, a good agent and has a lot of connections, so hopefully we can be a good team and work together to get some wins,” Marquez said.

Marquez is named to ride in six of Friday’s 10 races at Belmont. He joins Luis Cardenas and Heman Harkie as the only apprentice riders in New York.