Juan Lopez burst onto the Tampa Bay Downs scene in his first year as a permanent resident of the jockey colony here with three wins on Opening Day. The reinsman, who came to the Oldsmar oval from Calder Race Course, says of his Opening Day success, “I felt very happy, very excited. I hope that it’s the start to a very successful Tampa Bay Downs season. My goal for the Tampa Bay Downs meet is to become leading rider, and of course to stay healthy and perhaps kick off another great year of American racing.”
Lopez was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, where he attended jockey school at Juan Vicente Tovar and graduated in 2004 at the top of his class. Juan is the first person in his family to become a jockey; he says that he gained an interest in the sport of horseracing because, “All of my family was interested in horse racing, and so was I. We used to go to the track and watch races, and I realized I wanted to be a rider. That’s how I got interested in jockey school. There were fifty apprentice riders there, and I graduated at the top of my class. I started riding as a bug rider in May of 2004 after two years of Jockey’s School at Santa Rita Hipodromo.”
Lopez cites his agent, Henry Camboni, as the most influential person in his career. The two met at Calder Race Course when Lopez had just arrived from Venezuela. In 2005, Lopez began his American racing career at Calder Race Course, where he was the leading apprentice jockey with over 100 wins. Now 22 years old, Lopez has returned from a summer spent riding in his native Venezuela in order to ride at Tampa Bay Downs.
“He came back to the United States for this Tampa Bay Downs meet,” explains his agent Henry Camboni. “That’s why he was at Calder– to get ready for Tampa. His dream is to be leading rider here, and that’s his goal for the year.” Juan Lopez first came to Tampa Bay Downs is May of 2006 as a journeyman; although he only rode here for two days, he visited the Winner’s Circle four times over that weekend. “He had a very good experience, and, so that’s why he came back from Venezuela,” explains Camboni.
Lopez intends to stay in the United States after the Tampa Bay Downs meet and hopes to someday join the New York jockey colony. He says that he’d like to follow in the footsteps of Javier Castellano, who also is a native of Maracaibo, Venezuela.