Cedillo finds a home in Southern California jockey colony

CYPRESS, Calif. – Last weekend at Los Alamitos, jockey Abel Cedillo was winless with 11 mounts, the first time he went a racing weekend without a victory since late July.

Cedillo is in the midst of an outstanding first summer in Southern California. At the Del Mar summer meeting, his first full season there, Cedillo finished third in the jockey standings with 25 wins, behind leader Flavien Prat (42) and Drayden Van Dyke (32).

Cedillo, 30, said he came to Southern California from Golden Gate Fields with modest expectations in June, not knowing if would stay beyond the summer. He’s staying for the foreseeable future.

“I said, ‘I’ll try hard and see if I can win a couple of races,’ ” he said. “When I won four or five races, I said, ‘If I can win another four or five that would be great.’ ”

In the short-term, Cedillo will be on the go. He is booked to ride six of the eight races Friday at Los Alamitos and will travel to Churchill Downs to ride Lazy Daisy in Saturday’s Grade 2 Pocahontas Stakes for 2-year-old fillies for trainer Doug O’Neill. On Sept. 21, Cedillo is scheduled to ride the O’Neill-trained Landeskog in the Grade 2 Gallant Bob Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters at Parx Racing.

Cedillo is represented by jockey’s agent Tom Knust, who works closely with O’Neill as an adviser.

“I look up to Tom a lot,” O’Neill said. “He’s been a great mentor for me.”

Cedillo has benefited from that arrangement. At Del Mar, Cedillo won four races for O’Neill and rode at least one winner for 14 other trainers. His only win outside of Del Mar during the seven-week meeting was aboard Law Abidin Citizen in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs for trainer Mark Glatt.

Cedillo won the Harry Brubaker Stakes at Del Mar on Two Thirty Five on Aug. 21 for trainer Richard Baltas.

“He looks like a baby Rosario,” O’Neill said of Cedillo, in reference to the nationally prominent rider Joel Rosario.

“He puts a horse in a good position. He’s a good finisher.”

A native of Guatemala, Cedillo began riding in 2010 and has won 1,160 races. He began his career at Calder in Florida, but otherwise has ridden on the West Coast. Cedillo has won the last three riding titles at the marathon Golden Gate Fields meeting, which runs from late December to early June. At the meeting that ended there in June, Cedillo finished with 132 wins, 30 clear of runner-up Juan Hernandez.

There are no plans to return to Northern California. When Santa Anita begins its autumn meeting on Sept. 27, Cedillo will be based there, hoping to continue the success he found at Del Mar.

“I was thinking I wanted to go for the Del Mar meeting and if I do okay I’d stay,” he said. “That’s what I was thinking. I want to take a chance to stay here.”