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Injured Rosario’s Quest to Rewrite Record Likely Over

Joel Rosario suffered a hairline fracture of a rib in a spill Thursday at Aqueduct. The news was first reported by the Daily Racing Form's Dave Grening.

Rosario's agent, Ron Anderson, predicted that his rider would be out for about three weeks and could be ready for the Dec. 26 opening day card at Santa Anita.

“I haven't spoken to a doctor yet, so we're just waiting to find out,” he said. “It's going t be two, three weeks before he can ride again, so we're going to have to bite the bullet. Opening day at Santa Anita is 23 days away. It's possible that he can make that, but I do not know.”

With Rosario closing in on a number of records, the jockey and his agent had planned a busy schedule over the final four weeks of the year. Rosario has won 49 graded stakes this year, six shy of the record set by Jerry Bailey in 2003, and his 69 stakes wins on the year had him within seven wins of the record set by Garrett Gomez in 2007. With $32,944,478 in earnings this year, he was also within striking distance of the record held by Irad Ortiz Jr. Ortiz set his record in 2019 with $34,109,019 in purse earnings. It appears that Rosario will run out of time when it comes to establishing any new records.

“I am just concerned about him being comfortable,” Anderson said. “He's not the type to dwell on something like (breaking records). We'll just roll with it and maybe we can do it next year. We will move on.”

Riding Irish Constitution (Constitution) in the second race Thursday, Rosario was unseated after the wire.

“Last night on his way home, he called me and said that when he breathed it was painful,” Anderson said. “I got off phone thinking it had to be a rib or something like that bugging him. He got x-rays and it showed he has a fracture.”

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Champion Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. Sets His Sights On Fourth Straight Championship Meet Title

Having won more races at a single Championship Meet than any jockey in history, Irad Ortiz Jr. returns to Gulfstream Park for the 2021-2022 season with his sights set on a fourth straight riding title.

Already, the 29-year-old Ortiz is in elite company as one of just four riders to lead the country's premiere winter meet standings three consecutive years, along with Jeff Fell (1977-79), Jorge Chavez (1999-2001) and Javier Castellano. Hall of Famer Castellano won a record five straight before being unseated by Luis Saez in 2016-17.

Ortiz ended Saez's two-year reign to start his own streak in 2018-2019 and, after flirting with Saez's single-season standard of 137 wins that year before ending with 135, surpassed it in dramatic fashion by guiding Known Agenda to a 2 ¾-length upset of the Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farm at Xalapa for No. 138.

Represented by agent Steve Rushing, Ortiz would finish with 140 wins including the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) with Colonel Liam who, like Known Agenda, is trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher. They also teamed up with Fearless in the WinStar Gulfstream Park Mile (G2), Con Lima in the Herecomesthebride (G3) and Always Shopping in the La Prevoyante (G3).

In all, Ortiz won 14 stakes last winter including the Gulfstream Park Sprint (G3) on Mischevious Alex. On Feb. 6, he won six of 12 races, one victory shy of the single-day track record shared by Saez, Tyler Gaffalione, Paco Lopez and Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey.

“It was a great meet last year for me. What I can I say?” Ortiz said. “I have to say thank you to all the people for their help. Without their help and their support, it wouldn't be possible, honestly. I want to go and have fun and enjoy my time there. It's great weather, it's great racing and, hopefully, we can do it again.”

Ortiz heads to Gulfstream off a November to remember that began at Del Mar, where he earned his fourth straight Bill Shoemaker Award as top jockey during the Breeders' Cup World Championships following wins in the Dirt Mile (G1), Turf Sprint (G1) and Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2). He also finished second in the Turf (G1).

From there he returned to New York and won three more stakes including the Red Smith (G2). On Nov. 23, he won three stakes at Zia Park in New Mexico for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, including the Zia Park Derby and Oaks; went to Kentucky for the Clark (G1) where he finished off the board with Pletcher's Dr Post; and was back in California to ride for regular client Chad Brown. While there, he won the Jimmy Durante (G3) for a second straight year.

“I've been doing good, thank God. My agent does a great job,” Ortiz said. “Those are three great trainers and three people that we ride for. We went and did the best we could and I'm happy.”

Ortiz has been voted the Eclipse Award as North America's champion jockey each of the last three years, and will be prominent in the discussion again in 2021. Entering December, he ranked first in North America in wins (327) and has won 57 stakes, 33 of them graded, including 10 Grade 1 races. He was second to Joel Rosario in purses earned with $28,534,585 and holds the single-season mark of $34.1 million set in 2019.

This year marks Ortiz's seventh straight with at least 300 wins and eighth in a row topping $20 million in purse earnings. He picked up his 3,000th career victory Oct. 7 at Belmont Park on Saratoga Kisses for owner-trainer Rudy Rodriguez, a total that included 92 wins in his native Puerto Rico, according to Equibase.

“When you ride against the best, you learn. You learn a lot,” Ortiz said. “I like those kinds of races. When you're riding against the best jockeys in the world you learn a lot from them even when you get beat. We have some experience from that, and that makes you better.”

Following the 2020-2021 Championship Meet, Ortiz finished second during Belmont Park's spring meet by two wins to younger brother, Jose, as well as to Saez at Saratoga. Winner of the Belmont fall meet by a single victory over his sibling, Ortiz was tied with Jose Lezcano atop Aqueduct's fall meet standings.

“I feel good,” Ortiz said. “I want to go [to Gulfstream] and have the same support from the trainers and owners, I hope. I know if I have the same support they've given me that I can do something. I feel positive. I'm looking forward to it.”

The 87-day Championship Meet featuring 76 stakes, 37 graded, worth $14.26 million in purses opens Friday and runs through Sunday, April 3.

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Tezzaray Gets The Bob In Jimmy Durante Stakes At Del Mar

After a flurry of challengers overtook a front running Liam's Dove in the stretch, it was Tezzaray (GB) who got her nose down on the wire in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif. Stalking the pace early, the daughter of Bated Breath (GB) took to the outside to find racing room in the Del Mar straight and beat Awake at Midnyte and Toeris in the race's final strides.

Liam's Dove took the lead out of the gate, setting early fractions of :23.41, 48.52, and 1.13.32 as Awake at Midnyte, Half Past Twelve, and Tezzaray stalked the pace around the first turn and down the backstretch. On the far turn, Liam's Dove still held a tenuous lead, as Tezzaray under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. angled out from the rail and went two-wide into the stretch.

The race was wide open as Liam's Dove's lead began to shrink in the face of stretch challenges from first Awake at Midnyte and then Tezzaray and Toeris. Those three came down to the wire together, with Tezzaray getting up in the final strides to win by a nose. Awake at Midnyte was second, with Toeris third and the favorite Helen's Well fourth.

The final time for the one-mile Jimmy Durante was 1:37.56. Find this race's chart here.

Tezzaray paid $8.20, $5.00, and $3.60. Awake at Midnyte paid $8.80 and $7.00. Toeris paid $13.80.

“I had a good trip. I was in a little tight at the three-eighth pole, but that wasn't anything big. She's a very European filly; she likes to run covered up. When it came time to run – boom – she went,” jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said after the race.

“I had confidence in her. She's one of those fillies that are very classy and does everything right. I thought we won, then I thought we didn't, but luckily we got the head bob. I thought all three of my fillies ran very well and all got great rides. Irad (Ortiz, Jr.) had a really clean trip and once he got her in the clear she really kicked home,” trainer Peter Miller told the Del Mar Press Office after the Jimmy Durante.

Bred in England by Lady Richard Wellesley, Tezzaray is out of the Cadeaux Genereaux (GB) mare Amber Queen (IRE). She is owned by Slam Dunk Racing and Roger H. Newman and trained by Peter Miller. The 2-year-old filly was consigned by Ballinvana House Stud and sold to Karl Burke for $29,408 at the 2020 Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale. With her win in the G3 stakes, her lifetime record is two wins in four starts for career earnings of $104,997.

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Super Stock Leads Trio Of Stakes Winners For Asmussen, Irad Ortiz Jr. On Zia Park Derby Card

Trainer Steve Asmussen and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. made successful excursions to Hobbs, N.M., on Tuesday, teaming up to win three of seven stakes on Zia Park's biggest day of racing including the $250,000 Zia Park Derby with prohibitive favorite Super Stock. They also won the $200,000 Zia Park Oaks with Pauline's Pearl and $50,000 Zia Park Princess Stakes with Optionality.

Second-place finishes by Casual in the $75,000 Zia Park Distaff Stakes and by Tenfold in the Zia Park Championship Handicap kept Asmussen and Ortiz from going a perfect five-for-five on a 10-race card that offered $775,000 in added-money purses.

Only three horses lined up against Super Stock, the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby winner owned by Asmussen's father, Keith Asmussen, and Erv Woolsey. The Dialed In colt sat just off the lead as Pirate Junction set the pace early, then took command on the far turn and went on to win by 1 1/4 lengths, covering 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:44.73. Tesoro was up for second with Pirate Junction third and Convention fourth.

The win, worth $150,000 to Super Stock's connections, was the colt's fourth in 14 career starts. He paid $2.10 to win as the 1-20 favorite.

Stonestreet Stables LLC's homebred Pauline's Pearl was the second betting choice at 6-5 in the Oaks, but the gray Tapit filly raced past 9-10 favorite Lady Mystify in the final furlong to win by 1 1/2 lengths under Ortiz. Lady Mystify, from the barn of California-based Peter Eurton and ridden by Flavien Prat, finished second, with Gemstone Gal third in the field of six 3-year-old fillies.

Pauline's Pearl, out of the Dixie Union mare Hot Dixie Chick, was winning for the third time in 10 starts, her most recent victory coming in the G3 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn in April. She was clocked in 1:42.71 for 1 1/16 miles, earned $120,000 and paid $4.40 on a $2 win mutuel.

Pauline's Pearl and Irad Ortiz Jr. winning the Zia Park Oaks

Optionality, carrying the maroon and white colors of Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC, aired by 6 1/2 lengths under Ortiz as the 11-10 favorite in the Princess, running six furlongs in 1:09.16 and giving leading freshman sire Gun Runner – who had campaigned for Winchell and was trained by Asmussen – his sixth stakes winner of 2021. It was the second win from five starts for Optionality, who broke her maiden last out by 6 3/4 lengths at Indiana Grand on Oct. 26.

B4 Farms LLC's Canoodling was 5 3/4 lengths best over 7-10 favorite Casual in the Distaff for trainer Todd Fincher and jockey Roimes Chirinos. The 3-year-old filly by Pioneerof the Nile ran six furlongs in 1:08.44, winning for the sixth time in 12 career starts.

B4 Farms and Fincher clicked earlier on the card with Bye Bye Bobby winning the Juvenile Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths under Chirinos, defeating 13-10 favorite Aquitania Arrival, a California-based gelding trained by Peter Miller and ridden by Prat. Bye Bye Bobby, a 2-year-old colt by Quality Road out of Revel in the Win, by Red Bullet, was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC and was purchased from the Summerfield consignment for $870,000 as a yearling. Bye Bye Bobby paid $9.80 to win.

Zestful won the Zia Park Championship by a head over the 6-year-old Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred millionaire Tenfold, the even-money favorite. Zestful, trained by Bart Hone and ridden by Prat, races for Stable HMA, which claimed the 6-year-old gelding for $80,000 at Del Mar on Aug. 22. The son of Ghostzapper, coming off a victory in the Bull Dog Stakes at the Fresno fair in California, was winning for the 12th time in 38 starts. He ran 1 1/8 miles in 1.49.35.

Winner's circle presentation for the Zia Park Derby, won by Super Stock

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