Irad Ortiz Jr.

Last updated
Irad Ortiz Jr.
DSC 2737Newspaperofrecord.jpg
Ortiz at the 2018 Breeders' Cup
Occupation Jockey
Born (1992-08-11) August 11, 1992 (age 31)
Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico
Career wins3,000+ (ongoing) [1]
Major racing wins
Coaching Club American Oaks (2012 ,2022)
Pennsylvania Derby (2012, 2019)
Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (2012)
Alabama Stakes (2012, 2022)
Carter Handicap (2013, 2021)
Champagne Stakes (2013, 2017)
King's Bishop Stakes (2013)
Test Stakes (2014, 2015)
Acorn Stakes (2014)
Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (2015)
Flower Bowl Stakes (2015, 2016, 2018)
Manhattan Stakes (2015, 2019, 2020)
Spinster Stakes (2015)
Diana Stakes (2016, 2017)
Spinaway Stakes (2016, 2017, 2019)
Beverly D. Stakes (2017)
Gamely Stakes (2017)
Jockey Club Gold Cup (2017, 2020)
Just a Game Stakes (2018, 2020, 2023)
Whitney Stakes (2018, 2020, 2022)
Arlington Million (2018, 2019)
Pegasus World Cup Turf (2019, 2021, 2022)
Turf Classic Stakes (2019, 2021)
Summer Stakes (2019)
Natalma Stakes (2019)
Pegasus World Cup (2020, 2022)
Troy Stakes (2022)
Hollywood Derby (2020)
Florida Derby (2021)
Maker's Mark Mile Stakes (2021)
Carter Handicap (2021)
Apple Blossom Handicap (2021)
Remsen Stakes (2021)
Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes (2022)
Shoemaker Mile Stakes (2022)
New York Stakes (2022)
Woodward Stakes (2022)

American Classics / Breeders' Cup wins:
Belmont Stakes (2016, 2022)
Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf
(2014, 2018)
Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (2015)
Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (2015)
Breeders' Cup Sprint (2020, 2023)
Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint
(2017, 2018, 2022, 2023)
Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint
(2019, 2020, 2021)
Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (2019)(2021)
Breeders' Cup Turf (2019)
Breeders' Cup Classic (2019, 2023)

Contents

Racing awards
5x Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey
(2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023)
Shoemaker Award (2018, 2019, 2020,2021)
Significant horses
Bar of Gold, Bricks and Mortar, Creator, Goodnight Olive, Lady Eli, Mo Donegal, Newspaperofrecord, Questing, Shamrock Rose, Spun to Run, Stephanie's Kitten, Vino Rosso, Whitmore, White Abarrio, Elite Power
Website
www.theortizbrothers.com

Irad Ortiz Jr. (born August 11, 1992) is a Puerto Rican jockey who has been a leading rider in the New York Thoroughbred horse racing circuit since 2012. He won his first Breeders' Cup race on Lady Eli in 2014, and his first American Classic on Creator in the 2016 Belmont Stakes. He won the 2022 Belmont Stakes on Mo Donegal.

Ortiz won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in 2018 after leading the jockey list by both number of wins and earnings. He had four winners at the 2019 Breeders' Cup event, including wins in both the $4 million Turf and the $6 million Classic. In 2019, Ortiz repeated the Eclipse Award by leading in both wins and second places, as well as establishing a single-year earnings record for North American horse racing of $34,109,019. He won his third straight Eclipse Award in 2020 after again finishing first on both the earnings and wins list.

Personal life

Ortiz was born in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. His grandfather, also named Irad Ortiz, was a jockey, as was uncle Iván Ortiz. [2] His younger brother, José Ortiz, is also a leading jockey in New York. "We support each other, but you know, when we go out there, we are jockeys," said José. [3]

Growing up, one of his idols was Ángel Cordero Jr., the first Puerto Rican jockey to be inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. [4] At age 16, Ortiz enrolled in Puerto Rico’s Escuela Vocacional Hípica, a school for prospective jockeys. [2]

Ortiz has a daughter, Sarai, born in 2015. [5]

Career

Ortiz began his professional riding career at Hipódromo Camarero in Puerto Rico on New Year’s Day, 2011, winning 76 of 357 starts over the following months. In June, Pito Rosa, who works in the NYRA jockeys' room and was an old friend of Ortiz's grandfather, encouraged Ortiz to come to New York. Rosa also found an agent for Ortiz and acted as a mentor while Ortiz was settling in. [4] Ortiz rode his first race at Belmont Park on June 17 and won his first American race on June 24 aboard Millennium Jet. [2] He would finish the year with 151 wins from 1,016 starts. [1]

In February 2012, Ortiz "lost his bug", meaning he was no longer an apprentice and lost the weight allowance given to one. [6] Even so, his success continued. [7] In June 2012, Ortiz got his big break when trainer Kiaran McLaughlin put him on the filly Questing in an allowance race. When the filly won, McLaughlin retained Ortiz for the Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga in what would become Ortiz's first Grade 1 victory. Ortiz and Questing would also win the Alabama Stakes, and Questing would earn the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old filly. [8] Ortiz finished the year ranked #17 in North America by earnings. [1] He finished second in the Eclipse Award voting for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey; his loss may have been due to spending the majority of the year as a journeyman rider. [7]

In 2013, Ortiz won 224 races and vaulted to the #5 ranking in North America by earnings. Highlights included wins in the King's Bishop Stakes, Champagne Stakes and Carter Handicap. [1] He took his first riding title during Aqueduct's 2012-13 inner track meet. [3]

Ortiz, on the gray, at Saratoga 2015 Irad Ortiz, Jr. in traffic.jpg
Ortiz, on the gray, at Saratoga 2015

In 2014, Ortiz won 15 graded stakes including his first victory at the Breeders' Cup in the Juvenile Fillies Turf aboard Lady Eli. He tied Javier Castellano for the leading rider title (by number of wins) at Belmont Park's spring meet, [3] then won the title outright for the fall meet. [9] For the year, Ortiz finished third in North America by earnings. [1]

In 2015, he rode Stephanie’s Kitten to a win in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf and Lady Shipman to victory in the Turf Sprint. [1] He was the leading jockey at the Belmont Fall 2015 meeting. [10] Ortiz had his 1,000th North American victory on November 22, 2015 aboard Island Therapy at Aqueduct. [11] He finished second in the North American jockey standings by earnings. [1]

In 2016, Ortiz was unanimously voted the Jockeys' Guild Jockey of the Week for June 6 – 12. Ortiz began the weekend by winning the Jersey Girl Stakes, New York Stakes and Easy Goer Stakes. He then gained his fourth stakes victory of the week by winning his first American Classic in the 2016 Belmont Stakes on Creator. [10] "I thought Irad did a masterful job with all of his decisions," said Creator's trainer, Steve Asmussen. "He saved enough ground going into the first turn and stayed inside, and that gave us a chance to win." [12] He again finished second in the North American jockey standings. [1]

In 2017, Ortiz finished third in the jockey standings by earnings and first by number of wins. He was an Eclipse Award finalist along with his brother José, who won. [1]

In 2018, he won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey after leading the jockey list by both number of wins and earnings. [1] He won the Belmont spring/summer and Saratoga meets, the latter highlighted by a win in the Whitney Handicap on Diversify. [13] He earned his 2,000th career win on September 15 aboard Gambler's Fallacy at Belmont Park. [14] He won the Shoemaker Award for outstanding jockey at the 2018 Breeders' Cup after he won two races, the Juvenile Fillies Turf with Newspaperofrecord and the Filly & Mare Sprint with Shamrock Rose, plus scoring five more top four finishes. [15]

Ortiz experienced a slowdown in business in the fall of 2019, finishing just ninth in the Belmont meet standings. However, he had an exceptional weekend at the 2019 Breeders' Cup with four winners, including Bricks and Mortar in the $4 million Turf and Vino Rosso in the $6 million Classic. "Some riders have a good rapport with certain horses," said trainer Todd Pletcher. "Irad and Vino Rosso really gelled, you could see there was great chemistry there from the first time he got on him." [16] He finished the year ranked first by number of wins and earnings, and received his second Eclipse Award. [1]

In 2020, Ortiz earned his third consecutive Eclipse Award, with highlights including a win in the Breeders' Cup Sprint with Whitmore. [1] On June 3, 2021, he was hospitalized after he was thrown when his mount stumbled in a maiden race at Belmont Park after moving to the lead. Ortiz was struck by one of the trailing horses but the CT scans and X-rays came back clean. [17]

Year-end rankings

YearRank by earnings [1] Rank by wins
20119753
20121756
2013510
201433
201524
201623
201731
201811
201911
202011
202121
202211

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belmont Park</span> Horse racing track in Elmont, New York

Belmont Park is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Elmont, New York, just east of New York City limits best known for hosting the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the American Triple Crown. It was opened on May 4, 1905, and is one of the best well known racetracks in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breeders' Cup</span> Grade I Thoroughbred horse racing

The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, it expanded to two days. All sites have been in the United States, except in 1996, when the races were at the Woodbine Racetrack in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kent Desormeaux</span> American jockey (b. 1970)

Kent Jason Desormeaux is an American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who holds the U.S. record for most races won in a single year with 598 wins in 1989. He has won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes three times each, and the Belmont Stakes once. Aboard Real Quiet, he lost the 1998 Triple Crown by a nose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John R. Velazquez</span> Puerto Rican jockey

John R. Velazquez is a Puerto Rican jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. He began his career in Puerto Rico and moved to New York in 1990. In 2004 and 2005 he was the United States Champion Jockey by earnings and both years was given the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey. He was inducted into the Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2012, rode his 5,000th winner in 2013, and became the leading money-earning jockey in the history of the sport in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garrett K. Gomez</span> American jockey

Garrett Keith Gomez was an American Thoroughbred jockey who won two Eclipse Awards and thirteen Breeders' Cup races during his career.

Kiaran P. McLaughlin is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer best known for training 2006 Horse of the Year Invasor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramon Domínguez</span>

Ramón A. Domínguez is a retired Eclipse Award-winning champion jockey and Hall of Fame member in American thoroughbred horse racing.

The Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf is a one-mile turf stakes race for thoroughbred fillies two years old. As its name implies, it is part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, the de facto year-end championship for North American thoroughbred racing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dale Romans</span> American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer (born 1966)

Dale L. Romans is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer, best known for winning the 2011 Preakness Stakes with Shackleford and the Breeders' Cup Turf with Little Mike. He also upset American Pharoah in the 2015 Travers Stakes with Keen Ice. He won the 2012 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chad Brown (horse trainer)</span> American horse trainer

Chad C. Brown is an American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer known for his expertise with turf horses and with fillies and mares. He has trained ten Eclipse Award winners including Stacelita, Big Blue Kitten, Lady Eli, Flintshire, and Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar. After receiving the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer of 2016, he won his first Triple Crown race with Cloud Computing in the 2017 Preakness Stakes. He also won the Eclipse Award in 2017, 2018, and 2019. He also won his first race outside of the United States when he won the 2024 edition of the Sandy Lane Resort Barbados Gold Cup in Barbados as an assistant trainer for the Gay Smith owned [[Edward Walcott Junior trained Portfolio Company

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blame (horse)</span> American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse

Blame is a retired American champion Thoroughbred racehorse, a winner of nine races in 13 starts including the prestigious Breeders' Cup Classic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Ortiz (jockey)</span> Puerto Rican jockey

José L. Ortiz is a Puerto Rican jockey who has been a rider on the New York Thoroughbred horse racing circuit since 2012. In 2016, he was the leading jockey in North America by number of wins, including his first win at the Breeders' Cup. In 2017, he earned the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey after he led the earnings list and won his first Triple Crown race, the 2017 Belmont Stakes. In 2019, he won the Kentucky Oaks. In 2022, he won the Preakness Stakes, his second Triple Crown race win.

The Intercontinental Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares aged four years old and older, over a distance of six furlongs on the turf held annually in early June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. The event currently carries a purse of $200,000.

The Wonder Again Stakes is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies aged three years old held over a distance of 1+1⁄8 miles on the inner turf scheduled annually in early June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. The event currently carries a purse of $200,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Breeders' Cup</span> Horse race

The 2018 Breeders' Cup World Championships was the 35th edition of the premier event of the North American thoroughbred horse racing year. The 14 races, all but one of which were Grade I, took place on November 2 and 3 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The races were telecast by NBCSN on Friday and early Saturday, and by NBC later on Saturday. The Breeders' Cup is generally regarded as the end of the North American racing season, although a few Grade I events take place in later November and December. The event typically determines champions in many of the Eclipse Award divisions, although it was missing the eventual Horse of the Year, Triple Crown champion Justify, who was retired in July.

The Belmont Turf Sprint Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds and older run over a distance of six furlongs on the turf track held annually in October at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. The event offers a purse of $200,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luis Saez</span> American-Panamanian jockey

Luis Saez in Panama City, Panama) is a jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing. Saez rode Maximum Security to finish first in the 2019 Kentucky Derby but was subsequently disqualified due to interference. The two later won the world's richest race, the $20,000,000 Saudi Cup, in 2020. Saez won his first Breeders' Cup race in 2020 and first American Classic in 2021, both with champion Essential Quality.

The Jockey Club Derby Invitational Stakes is an American Grade III Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run over a distance of one and three-eighths miles on the turf held annually in September at Belmont Park, Elmont, New York. The purse for the event is US$500,000.

The Jockey Club Oaks Invitational Stakes is an American Grade III stakes race Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old fillies run over a distance of one and three-eighth miles on the turf held annually in September at Belmont Park, Elmont, New York. The purse for the event is US$350,000.

Nest is a Champion American thoroughbred racehorse who has won multiple Grade I events as a three-year-old in 2022, including the Ashland Stakes, Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama Stakes. She also finished second in the 2022 Belmont Stakes, racing against male counterparts in that Triple Crown event.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Equibase Profile – Irad Ortiz Jr". equibase.com. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "Leaders – Jockeys – Irad Ortiz Jr". www.nyra.com. Retrieved 15 June 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. 1 2 3 Schnell, Jeanne. "Ortiz brothers wrap up banner year in New York, finishing 1-2 in jockey standings". www.nyra.com. Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  4. 1 2 Goldberg, Ryan. "Aqueduct: Father figure stands behind Ortiz brothers' success". Daily Racing Form. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  5. ↑ Karmel, Terese (October 25, 2016). "Are the amazing Ortiz brothers ready to take the Breeders' Cup by storm?". Thoroughbred Racing Commentary. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  6. ↑ Seabrook, John (27 November 2017). "Puerto Rico's Ortiz Brothers Light Up Horse Racing". The New Yorker. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Outstanding Apprentice Jockey: Jose Montano". BloodHorse.com. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  8. ↑ Grening, David. "Aqueduct: Ortiz brothers make their mark on New York jockey colony". Daily Racing Form. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  9. ↑ "NYRA Jockey Statistics". www.nyra.com. Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  10. 1 2 "Irad Ortiz Jr. Named Jockey of the Week After First Belmont Stakes Victory". Jockey Talk 360. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  11. ↑ "1,000th North American Win For Irad Ortiz Jr". Paulick Report. 22 November 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  12. ↑ "Creator's trainer heaps praise on jockey Ortiz". Newsday. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  13. ↑ "Brown Completes Record-Setting Saratoga Meet". BloodHorse.com. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  14. ↑ "Irad Ortiz Jr. rides 2,000th career winner at Belmont Park". AP News. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  15. ↑ "Ortiz Jr. Earns Bill Shoemaker Award". BloodHorse.com. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  16. ↑ Grening, David. "For Irad Ortiz Jr., focus on Breeders' Cup pays off handsomely". www.drf.com. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  17. ↑ "Ortiz Jr. out 'couple weeks' after Belmont Park fall". www.bloodhorse.com. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.