SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — It was the nightcap, the final race on Monday’s card, and all Eric Cancel had to show for his afternoon was dirty riding pants. His horses had so far managed to beat only two horses in three races. When he got a leg up on his final mount of the day, Confessa, the words of his agent and mentor rattled in his head.
“The only horse that doesn’t have a chance is the one not in the race,” Angel Cordero Jr., the Hall of Fame jockey, often reminded him.
Seventeen minutes later, Cancel angled his dark bay filly down the stretch and scrubbed her neck like a washboard to coax a final burst of speed.