JOCKEY PACO LOPEZ WINS FIVE AT GULFSTREAM

Jockey Paco Lopez’s productive Championship Meet at Gulfstream Park continued with a five-win performance Friday.

The 31-year-old two-time Championship Meet titlist notched his fifth win of the day in the ninth race, a $49,000 optional claiming allowance, aboard Yourdreamsormine, who provided Lopez with his 2000th career victory at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 4.

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“I know the horse very well. He gave me my 2000th win. He’s a very good horse,” Lopez said.

Milt Wolfson-trained Yourdreamsormine ($6.80) ran seven furlongs in 1:23.63 to score by three-quarters of a length, capping the big day for Lopez, who also scored aboard Chia Ghost ($5.20) in the fourth, Sweet Butterfly ($13.20) in the sixth, Mr. Brix ($29.20) in the seventh, and Pira ($4.80) in the ninth. He missed out on a six-win day when Starship Sassy finished second in the 10th race, “I had lucky day. I was lucky to be on the right horses,” Lopez said.

The five-win day gave Lopez 62 winners for the Championship Meet, five fewer than leading rider Luis Saez.

Lopez was the leading apprentice at Gulfstream Park in 2008, a year after arriving in the U.S. to ride in South Florida, and went on to be honored with an Eclipse Award as the nation’s leading apprentice.

Lopez was born on a farm in Veracruz, Mexico and began riding Quarter Horses after leaving home at the age of 12. He ventured to the U.S. nine years later in hopes of becoming a Quarter Horse jockey. A year later, he began to exercise Thoroughbreds at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training center in Palm Beach County, and won his first race in the U.S. July 13, 2007 at Calder Race Course, where he captured several riding titles.