Youngest Lopez tops dad, brother

Although Pedro Terrero won the sixth race at Golden Gate Fields aboard 6-5 favorite Smart Ellis on Friday, apprentice jockey David Lopez also was a winner in the race.

Lopez, his brother, Erick, and father, Charles (C.C.), competed against each other for the first time in the $3,200, one-mile claiming race. David, fourth in the local jockeys’ standings, won family bragging rights by bringing in The Alameda Kid second. His older brother, riding High Greeley, nipped his father aboard Time To Glow at the finish line for third.

“I was still trying to catch [Smart Ellis]. I couldn’t do it, but those guys didn’t get by me,” said David Lopez.

Both David and Erick called the chance to race against their father “a dream come true.” C.C. Lopez feigned anger when interviewed after losing the photo.

“How about that? A little disrespectful. I’ll have to have a talk with [Erick] in the jocks’ room,” he said with a smile, with fatherly pride on his face.

“I probably enjoyed it more than anybody,” said C.C. Lopez, who was visiting his sons after winning a Grade 3 stakes at Lone Star Park in Texas on Memorial Day. “It’s a great friendly, family rivalry. It’s a privilege, and it’s an honor, especially at a track where David is doing so, so well.”