Mount Up For Grabs On El Kabeir?

By T.D. Thornton 
It happens just about every year leading up to the GI Kentucky Derby: A journeyman jockey has the call on a top-tier horse, but his lack of experience in the Triple Crown classics sparks debate about whether or not the mount should go to a higher-profile rider. 

This year the uncomfortable spotlight is glaring upon Charles “C.C.” Lopez, whose future aboard Wood Memorial third-place finisher El Kabeir (Scat Daddy) is in doubt after principal owner Ahmed Zayat of Zayat Stables LLC took to social media after Saturday's race to engage in some back-and-forth contemplation about the quality of the ride and whether a jockey change is forthcoming. 

“Heart says one thing mind says another,” Zayat wrote in a series of Twitter posts that have been condensed here for brevity. “I am my own boss. This is not a popularity contest…I love my horses they deserve best chance…Calvin [Borel] was his original jock…We are getting millions of calls for replacement jocks…I need to be comfortable and happy with my OWN actions… I knew what I promised. You can ask Lopez himself. I am a man of my word. No [D]erby promise was [made] that was a [W]ood promise…I have learned in my life that good decisions are not made in haste.” 

Asked by phone on Monday to clarify whether or not the mount on El Kabeir is considered open, Zayat said he isn't even 100% sure that El Kabeir will be starting in the Derby, let alone who might pilot the $250,000 yearling, who has won three of his last five graded stakes starts. 

“I have not made any decisions yet,” Zayat told the TDN. “We are blessed by having more than one horse [aiming for the Derby]. So I need to re-examine and see who is going where before making the final determination about A) if El Kabeir is going to be in the Derby, and B) who's going to ride him. 

“We know El Kabeir likes Churchill Downs,” Zayat continued. “We know he was ridden by Calvin Borel. He has the [Derby qualifying] points and we know the trainer wants to go. So everything is telling us to go, but I have not made that final decision yet.” 

When asked if he was one of the many jockey agents who has been in touch with Zayat about the mount on El Kabeir, Jerry Hissam, the longtime agent for Borel, said “at this time I don't have a comment on it. Nothing official's been made that I know of.” 

Borel rode El Kabeir in his breakout win at Churchill in the Nov. 29 GIII Kentucky Jockey Club S. He was scheduled to ride the gray in the colt's 3-year-old debut in the GIII Withers Stakes at Aqueduct Jan. 3, but opted off to attend a family funeral. 

With numerous top-tier New York riders out of town that day, Lopez picked up the open mount, won, then retained the ride on El Kabeir for the Withers (second), Gotham Stakes (another win) and GI Wood, where an attempt to rate from last into a tepid pace might have cost El Kabeir a better placing. 

Zayat said regardless of the jockey, he's not looking for a radical change of riding strategy if El Kabeir enters the Derby. 
“The horse is very versatile,” Zayat said. “He can do anything. He can lead, he can sit, he can close. When you have a 20-horse field, it's very hard to project anything right now.” 

Hissam said that even if he does get offered the mount by anyone from El Kabeir's camp, any decision on accepting it would have to wait until after the running of Saturday's GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park. 

“We have to face [Zayat's] other horse [American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile)] with a horse called The Truth or Else (Yes It's True) for Kenny McPeek. I just wouldn't commit myself to anything until after [the Arkansas Derby].” 

Asked if being inundated with calls from agents was a sign that his comments were being blown out of proportion, Zayat said no, that the interest and intense scrutiny are part of the Derby experience. 

“I'm not so sure it's out of proportion,” Zayat said. “I think once people see a horse that has been doing really well and that they've seen that we were not happy with the ride, that's the nature of the business, that people will try to get a Derby mount. It's kind of normal. We expect that to happen.”