EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – It was just three years ago that jockey Pedro Cotto, Jr., had a career-high 97 winners from 545 mounts. But entering Friday night’s Monmouth-at-Meadowlands card, where he is listed to ride in four of the six races, those numbers have dropped off dramatically.

As the regular exercise rider for trainer Kathleen O’Connell, Cotto does most of his work these days in the mornings, also galloping for other trainers. And while he is riding less – with 18 winners from just 91 mounts this year – he is winning at a career-best 20 percent.

“My mentality has changed. I’m older, more experienced,” said Cotto, who recorded his 1,000^th career winner on May 4 at Tampa Bay Downs. “I enjoy being an exercise rider and galloping horses. I don’t mind having a break from riding. If people need me I’m ready.

“I’m just not riding full-time any more. I’m a combination of a jockey and an exercise rider. It’s what I want to do right now.”

Cotto began riding in the United States in 2003, notching his first winner at Parx on May 26 of that year. That was after riding for five months at El Commandante Racetrack in Puerto Rico.

Overall, he has ridden in 9,152 races in the United States during his 23-year career. So he knows the toll a heavy workload can take on a jockey mentally and physically.

“It’s just different for me now,” he said. “I feel sharper and more focused when I do ride because I am not riding as much. I don’t get the opportunities that I used to get so I try to take advantage of every one I have now.

“I think when you ride a lot of horses you start to feel like whatever happens, happens. It’s hard to keep that sharpness every time when you ride a lot. Because I don’t ride as much now I feel like I am more focused and riding better. I guess you can say I like quality over quantity now.”

Cotto said his career-best winning percentage “is just one of those things.”

This year, even with limited opportunities, he has maintained his consistency despite the nomadic life of a jockey.

He won with two of his seven mounts at Monmouth Park this summer, was 8-for-46 at Tampa Downs and enters Friday with two wins from seven mounts so far at the Meadowlands.

He is listed to ride in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth races on the Friday program, and for three different trainers.

“Trainers will see me in the mornings or I will work one of their horses and they will ask me to ride for them,” said Cotto, whose father and uncle were jockeys in Puerto Rico. “I’m ready if they ask me. I’ve ridden for a long time at a lot of different tracks so I know the people at every track I go to. Right now I like the way things are working out for me. I’m not out there trying to get mounts all of the time. Whenever I have an opportunity I am doing the best I can. The people I do ride for now have known me for a long time and know what I am capable of doing on a horse.

“But it doesn’t hurt when you are winning at 20 percent. More people seem to notice you then.”