Irad Ortiz Jr.
Irad Ortiz Jr. | |
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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) | |
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 |
Irad Ortiz Jr. (born August 11, 1992) is a
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.
In 2013, Ortiz won 224 races and vaulted to the #5 ranking in North America by earnings. Highlights included wins in the
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
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
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
Year | Rank by earnings[1] | Rank by wins |
---|---|---|
2011 | 97 | 53 |
2012 | 17 | 56 |
2013 | 5 | 10 |
2014 | 3 | 3 |
2015 | 2 | 4 |
2016 | 2 | 3 |
2017 | 3 | 1 |
2018 | 1 | 1 |
2019 | 1 | 1 |
2020 | 1 | 1 |
2021 | 2 | 1 |
2022 | 1 | 1 |
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Equibase Profile – Irad Ortiz Jr". equibase.com. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
- ^ a b c "Leaders – Jockeys – Irad Ortiz Jr". www.nyra.com. Retrieved 15 June 2016.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c 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.
- ^ a b Goldberg, Ryan. "Aqueduct: Father figure stands behind Ortiz brothers' success". Daily Racing Form. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Seabrook, John (27 November 2017). "Puerto Rico's Ortiz Brothers Light Up Horse Racing". The New Yorker. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
- ^ a b "Outstanding Apprentice Jockey: Jose Montano". BloodHorse.com. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ Grening, David. "Aqueduct: Ortiz brothers make their mark on New York jockey colony". Daily Racing Form. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ "NYRA Jockey Statistics". www.nyra.com. Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ a b "Irad Ortiz Jr. Named Jockey of the Week After First Belmont Stakes Victory". Jockey Talk 360. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ "1,000th North American Win For Irad Ortiz Jr". Paulick Report. 22 November 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ "Creator's trainer heaps praise on jockey Ortiz". Newsday. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
- ^ "Brown Completes Record-Setting Saratoga Meet". BloodHorse.com. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
- ^ "Irad Ortiz Jr. rides 2,000th career winner at Belmont Park". AP News. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
- ^ "Ortiz Jr. Earns Bill Shoemaker Award". BloodHorse.com. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- ^ Grening, David. "For Irad Ortiz Jr., focus on Breeders' Cup pays off handsomely". www.drf.com. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
- ^ "Ortiz Jr. out 'couple weeks' after Belmont Park fall". www.bloodhorse.com. Retrieved 5 June 2021.