Sometimes, it’s all a matter of timing. And for 22-year-old apprentice rider Sebastian Morales, the right place was Tampa Bay Downs and the right time was last week.

With apprentice jockeys Aldo Arboleda and Carol Cedeno having just lost their five-pound allowances, and Angel Arroyo Jr. about to lose his, what better opportunity for a hot young bug rider to make an impression at Aqueduct than right now?

Enter Morales. Well, make that jockey agent Paul “Hoppy” DeMarco and Morales.

Last week, DeMarco, who held Arboleda’s book and was in search of a new apprentice (agents are permitted to handle one journeyman rider and one apprentice rider at the same time), put a call into Carlos Montalvo, the leading rider at Tampa Bay Downs, for whom he used to work.

“He was telling me about this kid, Sebastian Morales, who just started riding this year,” DeMarco was saying the other afternoon in the horsemen’s room at Aqueduct. “He said this kid has good hands, horses run for him, and he looked good on a horse.”

In fact, he looked very good – especially with a seven-pound weight allowance.

Growing up in Mexico, not far from Acapulco, Morales never spent much time around horses. It wasn’t until he came to the United States – Kentucky to be exact – at the age of 18 that a friend took one look at Morales’ small, wiry frame and suggested he try to become a jockey. So for the next few years, as he explained through an interpreter, Morales traveled from Kentucky to California to New Jersey to Florida, working as a free-lance exercise rider. Finally, this year, while in Florida, he got his jockey license, rode briefly at Gulfstream Park, and then and moved to Tampa Bay Downs to get more experience.

There, he rode his first winner on January 31, booting home Mr. Paccione in the first race, and by the time he had six winners from 40 mounts, Morales had caught the attention of a number of agents.

But, as he explained, it was because of Montalvo that he wound up at Aqueduct last week with DeMarco. The longtime agent’s first move was to bring him to trainer Gary Contessa’s barn in the morning.

“It’s rare that I use a jock to breeze a horse,” said Contessa. “He did a good job, and I gave him a shot. But although he looked good on a horse, when I saw him ride and win his first race, that’s when I was impressed. “

That would be the first race on Wednesday, March 5. Aboard 10-1 longshot Cherna in the one-mile claimer, Morales saved ground and then fearlessly drove the filly through a narrow opening between favored She Belongs to Us and the rail for the one-length victory. The next day, he rallied 0-19 Waymint from far back to post a three-quarter length victory in the sixth race.

“When I ride an apprentice, I want him to be fearless,” said Contessa. “That first race was pretty fearless. I have kind of a positive feeling about him.”

As does Morales, who thinks his versatility is one of his strong points and who plans on sticking around for some time.

“I like it here,” he said outside the jockey’s room before Friday’s fourth race. “It’s good to ride here. I like to win. I believe in myself -- and I believe I can be the best.”

You see, it’s all a matter of timing.