Lopez gets five days for ride on Clasico del Caribe winner The Brother Slew

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Gulfstream Park stewards have handed down a five-day suspension to jockey Paco Lopez for careless riding aboard The Brother Slew, the winner in Sunday’s last race, the $300,000 Clasico del Caribe. The Brother Slew, who went postward at odds of 45-1, lugged in under right-hand pressure nearing the wire, putting runner-up Gran Omero in tight quarters and forcing him to steady sharply under jockey Javier Castellano. Following an inquiry and claim of foul by Castellano, the results stood as is.

“We felt the incident that occurred did not change the outcome of the race, we believed the winner was the winner,” association steward Steve DiMauro said. “We believed the runner-up was intimidated and was in tighter than normal for probably only about the last five strides or so. But we gave Paco days because he was hitting right-handed and never paid attention to the horse inside of him.”

DiMauro said the suspension will be five racing days with no determination yet as to when that suspension will begin.

Lopez incurred the wrath of the local stewards twice earlier this year. He received a 30-day suspension for careless riding on Jan. 31 in an incident that led to apprentice Romero Maragh being severely injured and requiring surgery to repair damage to his spine.

Lopez also was suspended 60 days, eventually reduced to 30 days, for his ride aboard Itsmyluckycharm, who was disqualified from first and placed 10th in the 11th race here on April 11.

DiMauro said Lopez’s prior two suspensions had no bearing on their decision to give him days once again on Wednesday.

“We would have given any rider five days for this type of careless riding,” DiMauro explained.