Jockey C. C. Lopez coupled his knowledge of Aqueduct with his knowledge of Maggi Moss’s Temporary Saint and came up with an impressive, front-running 1 ½-length victory Saturday afternoon in the 96th edition of the Grade 3, $150,533 Excelsior Handicap for three-year-olds and up at nine furlongs on Aqueduct’s fast main track.

Known as a speed rider, Lopez put the 5-year-old gelded son of Awesome Again on the lead, holding a length advantage over Wafi City while the remainder of the eight-horse field was well behind. In control of the pace, Lopez and his mount set reasonable fractions of :23.92; :48.43; 1:13.65; and 1:38.13, conserving enough energy that he had plenty left for the stretch run.

Temporary Saint never had to worry and got home in 1:51.13.

“I thought he was going to run good because he ran so well last time,” said Lopez, who guided Temporary Saint to a runner-up finish behind Malibu Moonshine in the Stymie Handicap on Aqueduct’s inner track on March 1. “I don’t think I rode the best of races on him last time. He’s a good horse, and I knew if I was allowed to get away the way I did, he would be tough to get by. He doesn’t really want to be hit. I hit him left-handed one time and he resented it. As soon as I went back to hand-riding him, he just took off again.”

Temporary Saint returned $24.20 for his sixth victory in 23 career starts.

“I had a lot of confidence in this horse,” said trainer Bruce Levine. “I wanted to run him in this race. I knew he was going to get to the lead because there was no speed in the race. I knew Wafi City was going to sit behind him. I knew the fractions were slow, but the track has been slow all day. This was a big race for him.”

Angliana was a neck behind favored Nite Light in third, followed by Magna Graduate, Naughty New Yorker, Wafi City, Malibu Moonshine and Evening Attire, who again broke slowly.