Three-time champion jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. was handed a five-day suspension by Gulfstream Park stewards for his ride aboard Princess Cupid in Wednesday's sixth race, reports the Daily Racing Form.
Prior to crossing the finish line first, Princess Cupid drifted out under left-handed urging to interfere with eventual third-place finisher Muguruza; Ortiz and Princess Cupid were disqualified from first and placed third.
The rider was also disqualified from first in the seventh race on Feb. 18, in which Wicked Fast bumped with the runner-up at the eighth pole prior to crossing the wire first by a neck. Stewards placed Wicked Fast and Ortiz second.
Declining his right to appeal, Ortiz' suspension will begin on March 2 and conclude on March 9, allowing the jockey to ride in the designated stakes races on the March 5 card at Gulfstream (include the G2 Fountain of Youth Stakes).
On Thursday, Ortiz won his 3,000th career race in North America (excluding 95 wins in his native Puerto Rico).
Ortiz served a 30-day suspension during most of December for his actions in a pair of races at Aqueduct.
Read more at the Daily Racing Form.
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