Paco Lopez is suspended 30 days for failure to ride to wire

Jockey Paco Lopez has reportedly been suspended for 30 days for failing to persevered with Ridin With Biden to the wire in Saturday's Grade 3 Greenwood Cup at Parx.

Instead of riding the horse through the wire, according to numerous news reports, Lopez began to ease up the horse near the end of the race. Ridin With Biden finished third, a nose out of second place.

The suspension by Parx stewards, which began Thursday, will run through Oct. 27. It was first reported Thursday by Bill Finley of Thoroughbred Daily News but the ruling had not been posted on either the Parx or Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission websites by Friday.

"The penalty is justified," TDN quoted Ridin With Biden's trainer Butch Reid as saying. "We have to look out for our owners as well as the betting public. My concern was that the horse was sound and he is. He has been inspected by state vets three times since the race and is fine."

Ridin With Biden was "eased up in the final stages" by Lopez according to the Equibase chart for the race. Though 25-length winner Next had opened up an insurmountable lead in the 1 1/2-mile race, defending champion Ridin With Biden was caught by a nose for second by 84-1 long shot My Imagination. The second-place share of the purse was $38,000, while third place earned $19,000.

Lopez has won 225 times in 978 starts this year, earning over $10 million in purses. He has won four graded-stakes races in that time, including the Wood Memorial (G2) with Lord Miles.

He has previously been fined on numerous occasions by racing officials in New Jersey for failing to "put forth every reasonable effort or use proper diligence in the riding of a race."