James Lopez comes from a family of horsemen; his father J.R. “Joe” Lopez was the leading rider at Hawthorne in 1966 and at Sportsman’s Park in 1967 and 1968 before he retired in 1979.  His brother Jeffery gallops horses, and his half-brother, Joe Lopez Jr. is a trainer in Texas.  James’ wife Kelli also gallops horses and is attending nursing school in Louisville. James began riding in 1996 at Retama Park in Texas and later that year moved his tack to Kentucky.  Two years later he began riding first call for Cole Norman and then Joe Petalino at Oaklawn Park and finished as the meet’s third-leading rider.  That summer he was the leading rider at Louisiana Downs where he won six stakes races.  In 1999, he won four added-money events at Oaklawn, but perhaps the biggest victory of his career came at Ellis Park in 2000 when he won the Grade III, $200,000-guaranteed Gardenia Handicap aboard Silent Eskimo. 

Lopez finished his first year of riding at Tampa Bay Downs as the sixth leading rider at the Oldsmar oval and has won 35 races, come in second 33 times and third 32 times with $614,549 in purses in 94 days of racing. His biggest win of the meet came aboard eventual Kentucky Derby participant General Quarters in the Grade III $225,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes on February 14, 2009.