Diverse background helps Cepeda as an owner and trainer

Diverse background helps Cepeda as an owner and trainer

Horse racing fever set in at a young age in Carlos Cepeda and provided the

growing desire to work in multiple aspects of the Thoroughbred industry. The

trail on which he set forth eventually led him to Calder Race Course, where he

has based himself as a successful owner and trainer, accomplishing his goals

after receiving a well-rounded education in the horse racing world.

Cepeda was hooked on horse racing from the get-go, growing up attending the

races at Hipódromo Presidente Remon in his native Panama.

"I was crazy as a kid going over there just watching the races and sneaking into

the winner's circle. I was like, 'I'm taking this picture,'" Cepeda said. "In

Panama I always went to the track with my dad. I loved everything to do with

horse racing and I wanted to be a jockey, but they told me 'No, you're not even

close to being built that way,' so I said, 'Okay, fine.' I settled."

Cepeda eventually took his first job as a hotwalker at Belmont Park in New York

while on summer break from high school. Working for trainer Bill Mott, Cepeda

had the privilege of hotwalking Cigar, who had a Hall of Fame career winning

numerous stakes races in multiple countries and earning Eclipse Award honors.

All of the publicity surrounding the horse excited Cepeda even more about horse

racing and involve himself further in the industry.

"I liked the whole atmosphere, the cameras, all of the attention about that

horse," Cepeda said. "It was a great experience for me, so from there I worked

my way up to riding horses."

Cepeda then spent 14 years working as an exercise rider for multiple trainers in

New York, including Flint "Scotty" Schulhofer, William Badgett, Jr., and Allen

Jerkens,  with numerous stakes-winning horses. In addition to learning

different styles of riding and conditioning horses from the trainers he worked

for, Cepeda also received advice from three of his uncles who were jockeys in

Panama and New York.

The success that Cepeda had while exercise riding led him to strive to achieve

new goals in the industry.

"It was like a big chemistry that I had with the horses," Cepeda said. "I was

like 'You know what? I want to be able to own a horse and I want to be able to

train the horse, so I set that as one of my priorities later on in life. I was

like, you know, when the time is right, I will get the chance to do it."

Once the new goals were set in Cepeda's mind, the next step was moving to Ocala,

where he could gain knowledge about horse development prior to the time the

horses first set foot on the racetrack.

"I went back to what I should have done in the first place -- go to the

farm and learn how to ride," Cepeda said. "I wanted to experience the whole

process of how the yearlings are born, how they break yearlings, the whole nine

yards."

Cepeda also worked the sales on James Crupi's New Castle Farm, where among

others he prepared an Indian Charlie colt who went on to win the Breeders' Cup

Juvenile and an Eclipse Award -- Uncle Mo.

"I was getting on this horse, and I told Mr. Crupi 'I think this is a good

horse. He's very talented,'" Cepeda said. "I said 'The Indian Charlie colt has

potential.' It was another experience to know that now I could pick up prospects

even when they are really, really young."

Cepeda's background and industry knowledge allowed him to smoothly transition

into being a successful owner and trainer as he headed to South Florida after

two seasons in Ocala, basing himself at Calder.

"Fortunately for me, my first-time-out as an owner, I got the first win, and

that was very exciting," Cepeda said. "That was amazing. And then I did it also

first time as a trainer. I felt blessed."

Since 2013 as an owner, Cepeda's horses have won five times from 38 starts,

finishing in-the-money 21 times. In May of this year, Cepeda started his

training career and has accumulated two wins from 10 starts, finishing

in-the-money 50 percent of the time. His focus has been on claiming horses that

he believes will best fit his stable.

Cepeda presently maintains a small outfit of three horses. With a small stable,

he is able to be more hands-on and involved with the horses, which is what he

loves. He takes them out in the mornings to make sure they are ready to run and

keeping fit, and even gets on the horses every once in a while. He also takes

the afternoons to groom and graze his horses to monitor their behavior while

giving the grooms the afternoons off.

"They tell you when they're really ready," Cepeda said. "As a trainer and an

owner I think that it's important to have that chemistry with the horses, let

them know that we are teammates; we all work together to accomplish one goal of

winning races. If they're happy and they're sound and if they win and they

perform good, then we're all happy."

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