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‘They Make Me Feel Like Home’: Irad Ortiz Happy To Be Back At Gulfstream Park

Enjoying one of the best seasons of his highly decorated career, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. has made his way back to South Florida with the mission of ending the year as strongly as it began.

Ortiz, 31, returns to Gulfstream Park starting Thursday to begin his riding title defense at the 2023-2024 Championship Meet, the nation's premiere winter racing destination that began its 85-day run Dec. 1.

A total of 68 stakes worth $14.875 million in purses will be offered led by the $4.5 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational series Jan. 27 and the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) March 30. The Championship Meet concludes March 31.

Ortiz will be busy in his first weekend back. He is named in seven of 10 races Thursday and Friday and nine of 11 races Saturday including Ozara for trainer Christophe Clement in the $100,000 Wait a While and Noted for Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher in the $100,000 Pulpit.

In all, Ortiz is named on 25 horses over his first three days for 17 different trainers, among them Mike Maker, Eddie Plesa Jr., Carlos David, Riley Mott, Jose D'Angelo, Joe Orseno, Chad Brown and Jane Cibelli.

“It's great to be back. They support me a lot. I love the people. They treat me really, really good and that makes it special,” Ortiz said. “They make me feel like home. I have some trainers I ride for that are waiting for me there and that keeps me hungry. It's exciting.”

Ortiz arrives at Gulfstream after earning his fifth Bill Shoemaker Award as top jockey at the Breeders' Cup World Championships, raising his career total to 20 wins following victories in the $6 million Classic (G1) aboard White Abarrio, $2 million Sprint (G1) on Elite Power and $1 million Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) with Goodnight Olive. All three horses will be in the mix for Eclipse Awards as divisional champions.

For his part, Ortiz is likely headed to a fifth Eclipse Award as champion jockey following wins in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022. According to Equibase statistics, he is approaching his career-high of 346 wins set in 2018 and has already broken his own single-season North American record for purse earnings with $37,791,462. Ortiz banked the previous mark of $37,640,792 in 2022.

Ortiz has won 337 races – that and his earnings easily tops in North America – with 65 stakes wins, 40 in graded company. For his career, he has 3,715 wins, 596 in stakes, 304 of them graded, and more than $303.5 million in purse earnings.

“You start good [at Gulfstream] and it's great because you start the year off on the right foot,” Ortiz said. “It's very competitive. You have the best jockeys in the wintertime going there. It's not easy. It's been working out good, to be honest.”

Represented by agent Steve Rushing, Ortiz returned to the top of the Championship Meet standings last winter with 128 wins, after having his three-year win streak snapped by Luis Saez in 2021-2022. Ortiz also had a meet-high $7.5 million in purse earnings, setting the stage for what has been a memorable 2023 campaign.

Ortiz won 14 stakes during the 2022-2023 meet, 10 of them graded, led by 2022 2-year-old champion Forte in the Fountain of Youth (G2) and Florida Derby and Atone in the $1 million Pegasus Turf (G1). Ortiz also won the Florida Derby in 2021, the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) in 2020 and 2022 and has won four of the five runnings of the Pegasus Turf, including three in a row.

Other graded triumphs came in the Harlan's Holiday (G2), Pan American (G2), W. L. McKnight (G3), La Prevoyante (G3), Kitten's Joy (G3), Sweetest Chant (G3) and Royal Delta (G3). On Feb. 3 he rode seven winners on a single card, tying Jerry Bailey, Tyler Gaffalione, Luis Saez and Paco Lopez for the track record while becoming the first ever to win seven in a row.

Since his first full winter of 2017-2018, Ortiz has won 699 races at Gulfstream, an average of 116.5 per season. He has led the standings four times, winning a track-record 140 races in 2020-2021, and has been first in purse earnings five consecutive years including 2021-2022, when he rode just 279 races and finished with 80 wins and $5.05 million.

Nationally, Ortiz has been in the top five in wins and purse earnings every year since 2014 and has won 300 or more races each season since 2015. Also first in purses from 2018-20 and 2022, he is on the way to having the most wins for a seventh straight year.

“Believe me, we work so hard and we try to not look back. We just try to do the best we can for the whole year. By this time of year you realize how you're doing, after all the big races and everything, and we are having a good year,” Ortiz said. “We are very grateful. We thank God for every opportunity they give us to live these moments. We feel blessed to be in this position. We love this game. We love riding and we have to thank the horses because they run for us. They make the sport special.”

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Racing Together Industry Day To Return In February

The Racing Together Industry Day will be held at Chester Racecourse on Feb. 8, the organisation announced on Wednesday.

The 2024 edition will take place at Chester Racecourse and will consist of a variety of speakers from both within and outside the racing industry. Conor McGinn, co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Racing and Bloodstock will open the day and will be joined by speakers from the sports of rugby and cricket. This year the event will be kindly supported by Gallagher's Insurance, who will be exploring the ideas of corporate sponsorship in the Community Engagement Space. For tickets–currently £75 until Jan. 12 when the price increases to £85–and to find out more, please visit the Racing Together website.

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HISA And Oaklawn Park Designate Area For Intra-Articular Injection Treatments

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority and Oaklawn Park have launched a new pilot program under which a designated area will be available for veterinarians to administer any intra-articular corticosteroid injections at the racetrack during the track's 2023-2024 race season beginning Friday, Dec. 8, HISA said in a press release Wednesday.

As HISA laid out in its Strategic Response to recent equine fatalities, many stakeholders, including a significant number of individuals calling into HIWU's confidential tip line, have questioned whether Covered Persons are properly and accurately reporting intra-articular corticosteroid injections.

In order to address this issue and ensure injections are administered in compliance with HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control regulations, HISA proposed two possible solutions: (1) a designated area at the racetrack for all intra-articular injections to be administered; or (2) the requirement of a short video of the veterinarian performing the intra-articular injection to be uploaded with the injection report.

Oaklawn has volunteered to test the first of these potential solutions. Under this pilot program, Oaklawn will offer a designated private location at its Summer Bird Barn for intra-articular injections and will compensate Covered Persons who volunteer to have them administered there up to $250 for the first 100 intra-articular corticosteroid injections this season.

All intra-articular corticosteroid injections prescribed and administered by a veterinarian at Oaklawn must be observed in-person by the track's Integrity Officer, Beverly Fowler, or another designated racetrack employee, regardless of whether it is administered in the designated location.

The pilot program will be used to determine the feasibility and value of this approach, as well as to identify challenges that would need to be resolved for it to be successful nationally.

“HISA is thankful for Oaklawn Park's willingness to test this process, which has been used successfully in sport horses for many years,” said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus. “By testing this concept, the Oaklawn team is contributing meaningfully to HISA's efforts to make the sport safer and more transparent. Based on horsemen and veterinarian feedback and results, designated intra-articular injection treatment areas may eventually be presented to the Racetrack Safety Committee to consider promulgating a uniform rule.”

“Oaklawn Park is pleased to be a leader in equine health and safety,” said Louis Cella, President, Oaklawn Park. “It is clear to us that the sport must evolve and continue to do everything in its power to keep horses safe. We support HISA's efforts to explore new methods of ensuring safety and integrity and we appreciate our horsemen's support and engagement.”

Prior to each intra-articular injection at Oaklawn this season, the trainer or veterinarian must inform the Integrity Officer of the day and time it will be administered to ensure she or a designee are present. Injection appointments may be scheduled by calling the Integrity Officer at (501) 762-3864.

The veterinarian and Integrity Officer, or their designee, must fill out and sign an accompanying form and submit photos of the medication that is being injected. A copy of the form will be provided to the veterinarian administering the injection, the trainer, the Integrity Officer's office and the State Veterinarian.

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Bloodlines Presented By Walmac Farm: Dornoch Already Living Up To Fast-Growing Pedigree

Who's knocking at the door?

It's a bay colt. He's here with his agent, Conor Foley, and personal trainer, Danny Gargan, and the colt says that you're supposed to interview them.

Is that Dornoch?

Yes, Dornoch has knocked. The door has been answered. He says the password is “Remsen.”

Victory in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes on Dec. 2 has opened a lot of doors for Dornoch, as well as his connections.

Co-owner Larry Conley, founder of West Paces Racing, said that “getting this colt [before everyone knew the quality of his full brother Mage] is really down to Conor and his team at Oracle Bloodstock. They put us in the right spot to succeed.”

As part-explanation of the reason for their interest in the colt, Foley said, “We have been associated with this family for several years. I was involved in the selection of Puca as a yearling [at Keeneland September in 2013], and she became a stakes winner while racing for Donegal Stable.”

When the mare's first colt, a foal of 2020 by the champion juvenile Good Magic (by Curlin) came to the sales, Foley and his team at Oracle Bloodstock inspected and strongly approved of the result. Foley said, “We vetted Mage and tried to buy him, but the owners who did [at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale] have been tremendous for racing this year.”

Only four months later, however, “I saw the full brother,” Foley said, “and he was such a different horse. He's more like the dam, a little bigger and rangier. The day he sold, Danny and I went to the sale with this one in mind, and I remember jogging to the ring to be ready for this colt.”

Dornoch's trainer noted: “He's a powerful horse with a world of athleticism; the impressive thing is how strongly he finishes his works and how well he gallops out past his work distance.”

A winner of the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct by the minimum margin wouldn't typically be earning such raves for his accomplishment, but Dornoch made an impression with his effort to win the Remsen. Holding the lead nicely as he turned into the stretch, Dornoch flirted with the rail and allowed Sierra Leone to make a fetching run on the outside to take the lead and appear to be on his way to victory.

Not so. Dornoch switched back to business and made steady progress against his rival to win narrowly on the wire. The top two separated themselves from the third-place colt, Drum Roll Please (Hard Spun), by 4 ¾ lengths.

Bred in Kentucky by Grandview Equine, Dornoch is out of the Big Brown mare Puca, who went through the Keeneland November sale last month. She passed through the ring unsold at $2.8 million, then John Stewart bought her shortly thereafter for $2.9 million in foal to Good Magic (Curlin).

Champion juvenile Good Magic is also the sire of Dornoch and his full brother, 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage. The Derby winner has been retired to stud for 2024 and will stand at Airdrie Stud for a fee of $25,000. Their sire stands at Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa for a stud fee of $125,000 live foal, if you can secure a season.

As a first-crop yearling, Mage sold to New Team for $235,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September yearling sale, then resold to OGMA Investments as a 2-year-old at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale for $290,000. Racing for CMNWLTH, OGMA, Sterling Racing, and Ramiro Restrepo, the chestnut colt won two of his seven starts, finished second in the G1 Florida Derby and Haskell, third in the G1 Preakness, and earned $2.5 million.

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The year-younger Dornoch sold for $325,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September sale to Oracle Bloodstock, agent, and races for West Paces Racing LLC, R. A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding LLC, Two Eight Racing LLC, and Pine Racing Stables.

Now a winner in two of four starts, Dornoch earned his first black type with a second-place finish in his second start, the Sapling Stakes, then won a maiden special at Keeneland. To win his maiden, Dornoch led at every call and pulled away to win by 6 ½ lengths as the odds-on favorite in the mile and a sixteenth race. To win the Remsen, favored Dornoch led at every pole up to the stretch call, when Sierra Leone was in front, then again when it mattered most.

Conley said, “What a heart, what a competitive spirit. You can't train that, can't buy that.

“For all of us involved with this colt, every week is going to be like Christmas week for the next few months; right now, he's getting some rest, then getting ready for the New Year.”

The post Bloodlines Presented By Walmac Farm: Dornoch Already Living Up To Fast-Growing Pedigree appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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