Tag: Irad Ortiz Jr.

Ny Traffic opened his 3-year-old campaign last January winning this Gulfstream Park allowance. He opened his 4-year-old season Sunday, winning a Belmont Park allowance by 6 1/2 lengths. (Image: Lauren King/Gulfstream Park)

Ny Traffic Returns With a Vengeance, Takes Apart Belmont Park Allowance

Whatever rust Ny Traffic possessed during a seven-month layoff disappeared in less than 90 seconds on Sunday, when the colt dismantled a Belmont Park allowance field of New York-breds by 6 ½ lengths. The Cross Traffic progeny made his 4-year-old debut nearly seven months to the day after he finished […]

Irad Ortiz Jr. celebrates after breaking the Gulfstream Park Championship Meet riding title aboard Known Agenda i the Florida Derby. (Image: Ryan Thompson Photo)

Irad Ortiz Jr. Breaks Gulfstream Park Riding Record in Florida Derby

Irad Ortiz Jr. broke Gulfstream Park’s Championship Meet riding record with an exclamation point, Saturday, piloting Known Agenda to the Grade 1 Florida Derby title. The victory not only gave Ortiz his first Florida Derby, but gave him 138 victories for the South Florida track’s marquee meet. That sent the […]

Irad Ortiz Jr. usually throws his punches on the track with his riding skill. He was fined $1,000 for throwing them at fellow rider Paco Lopez after Friday's fourth race at Gulfstream Park. (Image: Ryan Thompson/Coglianese Photos)

When Jockeys Fight: Leading Rider Ortiz Fined $1,000 for Starting Brawl

In a rare episode of When Jockeys Fight, Gulfstream Park stewards fined leading jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. $1,000 and put him and brawling partner Paco Lopez on probation after the two riders fought following Friday’s fourth race at Gulfstream. The Daily Racing Form first broke the story. According to the […]

Irad Ortiz rode R Mercedes Boy to victory in Gulfstream Park's ninth race. That was his sixth victory Saturday. (Image: Gulfstream Park Photo)

Ortiz Helps Himself to a Six-Pack of Gulfstream Victories

Less than two weeks after picking up his third consecutive Eclipse Award as the nation’s top jockey, Irad Ortiz Jr. illustrated why he owns an Eclipse trifecta: riding six winners on Saturday’s Gulfstream Park card. Putting this into further perspective, Ortiz won half of Gulfstream’s 12-race Saturday card. “You never […]

Authentic carried jockey John Velazquez to a Kentucky Derby title in September and his connections to an Eclipse Award as 2020 Horse of the Year. (Image: Gregory Shamus/Getty)

Authentic Runs Away With 2020 Horse of the Year Eclipse Award

Authentic rarely won his big races by big margins. But, he won his final “race” – the Eclipse Award for 2020 Horse of the Year – by a Secretariat at the Belmont-esque 31 lengths on the track. The Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic champion garnered 224 out of a […]

Colonel Liam's victory in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf certainly earned a thumbs-up from jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Could he be the older American turf star that division needs? (Image: Lauren King/Coglianese Photos)

Colonel Liam Ripe for Promotion After Clutch Pegasus Turf Victory

If American Thoroughbred racing has a quality gap, it’s in the area that Colonel Liam addressed on Saturday – the older male turf division. That division needs a standout, a go-to, must-watch horse who can grab eyes every time he enters a gate. And with his neck victory over stablemate […]

If Knicks Go gets an unchallenged lead like he did in blitzing the field ini the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, the Pegasus World Cup will be over in short order. The 5-year-old is the 5/2 favorite in the $3 million race. (Image: Coady Photography/Keeneland)

Without Baffert, Knicks Go’s Fast Break Makes Him Pegasus Favorite

If horses run in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational and Bob Baffert doesn’t train any of them, does it really happen? We’re about to find out what the richest dirt race for older horses in North America – non-Breeders’ Cup division – looks like without the preeminent dirt trainer of […]

Winning the Breeders' Cup Classic two months after capturing the Kentucky Derby likely made Authentic the Horse of the Year. The 50th Eclipse Awards will be announced Jan. 28. (Image: Horsephotos.com)

Authentic, Improbable, Monomoy Girl Head Eclipse Awards Finalists

Horse of the Year candidates Authentic, Improbable, and Monomoy Girl headline the finalists for the 2020 Eclipse Awards, announced Saturday by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB), and the Daily Racing Form. The Eclipse Awards get their name from the iconic 18th-century racehorse and […]

Kendrick Carmouche still hasn't come down from his first Grade 1 win, piloting True Timber to the Cigar Mile winner's circle last Saturday. Carmouche won his first NYRA riding title during Aqueduct's fall meet. (Image: Eclipse Sportswire)

Carmouche Breaks Into Big Time with First NYRA Riding Crown

Between 2008 and 2011, Kendrick Carmouche won seven riding titles at Parx, outside Philadelphia, staking his claim as that track’s dominant jockey and earning a spot in its Hall of Fame. But that was at Parx; a nice track, but a track out in the riding provinces. Now, Carmouche is […]

Luis Saez won six races in a day for the second time at Gulfstream Park. He won five of the nine Claiming Crown races. (Image: Coady Photography/Churchill Downs)

Saez Claims Himself a Six-Pack of Victories on Claiming Crown Day

On a day where Gulfstream Park set a handle record for its Claiming Crown series of races, two-time Gulfstream Park riding champion Luis Saez captured six of the track’s 11 races on Saturday. Saez, who won the Gulfstream Park riding titles in 2016-17 and 2017-18, won five of the nine […]

Yes, jockey Frankie Dettori is No. 1 again -- for the fourth time in six years. The Italian-born, British rider was named the World's Top Jockey by the International (Edward Whitaker)

Dettori Named World’s Best Jockey for the Third Consecutive Year

What’s been a given in Europe became a given throughout the world when Frankie Dettori captured the title of World’s Best Jockey for the third consecutive year in 2020. The award came from the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA). The award isn’t subjective. It’s based on a rider’s performances […]

The $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational is one of 36 graded stakes on Gulfstream Park's 2020-21 Championship Meet schedule. The south Florida track opens its 84-day meet Wednesday. (Image: Getty)

Gulfstream Park Championship Meet Opens with No Fans, Rich Stakes

Gulfstream Park opens its 2020-21 Championship Meet on Wednesday without spectators, but with a stakes schedule that – aside from several stops on the Road to the Kentucky Derby – offers one of North America’s richest races. Headlining Gulfstream’s 75 stakes races – 36 graded – is the $3 million […]

Authentic went gate-to-wire to win the Breeders' Cup Classic over an all-star field of Grade 1 stakes winners. (Image: AP Photo)

On Record-Setting Day, Breeders’ Cup Handle Takes Mild Dip

With Kentucky Derby champion Authentic, standout filly Gamine, and Knicks Go all winning Breeders’ Cup races in record time – and without general public tickets available – the Breeders’ Cup World Championships managed its sixth-highest all-sources handle since 2007. That was the year the Breeders’ Cup expanded to two days. […]

Irad Ortiz Jr. ranked No. 1 in North American jockey wins the last three years and earnings the last two. He became the latest prominent jockey testing positive for COVID-19. (Image: Gregory Bull/AP)

Top Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Latest Rider Testing Positive for COVID-19

Two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. became the latest high-profile jockey testing positive for COVID-19. As a result, Ortiz goes back on the shelf for at least 10 days. The Daily Racing Form reported that Ortiz took the test Monday at his current Saratoga Springs, New York, residence. His […]

Only a handful of essential personnel watched a geared-down Tiz the Law win the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga Aug. 8. But despite no fans, Saratoga's handle surpassed $700 million for the second consecutive year. (Image: AP)

No Fans? No Problem as Saratoga Surpasses $700 Million in 2020 Handle

Bettors proved they could handle the magic of Saratoga’s racing season without being at Saratoga, passing the $700 million mark in all-sources handle for the second consecutive year. The numbers for the 40-day 2020 Saratoga meet remained surprisingly strong, despite the lack of fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Saratoga […]

Irad Ortiz Jr. will get back in the saddle Saturday after taking five weeks off. He returns to Gulfstream, where he won six races in one day last year. (Image: Gulfstream Park)

After Month Off, Award-Winning Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Returns To The Pack

Irad Ortiz Jr. is used to being out in front. Now, with the announcement the two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey is returning to racing after a month’s hiatus, Ortiz is returning to the pack. Ortiz’s agent, Steve Rushing, confirmed to Horse Racing Nation his client plans returning to the saddle Saturday […]