Cordero to ride for one day

Angel Cordero Jr., the Hall of Fame jockey who retired in January 1992 after a horrific spill, is coming out of retirement for one day to ride two horses at Philadelphia Park on Oct. 1.

Cordero, the seventh-winningest rider of all time with 7,057 career wins, will ride Indian Vale in the $250,000 Cotillion Handicap and Yes Yes Yes in the $100,000 Gallant Bob Handicap. Both horses are trained by Todd Pletcher.

Cordero, 62, has been galloping horses for two years for Pletcher, and Cordero and Pletcher have often discussed having Cordero ride a horse or two. The Cotillion is run the same day that six Grade 1 races are being held at Belmont Park, where John Velazquez, the regular rider of Indian Vale, will be needed to ride, among others, Flower Alley in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. Cordero is the agent for Velazquez.

Cordero said he does not plan to come back to riding on a regular basis.

"I'm not doing this to prove any point, I'm not proving that old people can do it," Cordero said. "I just want to get it out of my system."

Cordero came out of retirement briefly in the fall of 1995 when he rode four horses on New York Showcase Day at Belmont Park and two horses two weeks later. He went 0 for 6 in those two days.