Edited Press Release
Irad Ortiz Jr. won his fourth consecutive Bill Shoemaker Award, given to the most outstanding jockey at the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar.
The Shoemaker Award goes to the jockey who won the most races in the 14 World Championship races this weekend with the tiebreaker being a 10-3-1 point system for second- through fourth-place finishes.
Ortiz and William Buick both won three races, but Ortiz also had a runner-up finish and three fourth-place finishes while Buick finished fifth with his only other mount.
Ortiz won the first Championship race of the weekend on Twilight Gleaming (Ire) (National Defense ({GB}) in the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and then added Saturday victories in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint with Golden Pal (Uncle Mo) and the GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile with 'TDN Rising Star' Life Is Good (Into Mischief).
Buick also had one victory Friday on Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire} in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and then two on Saturday with Space Blues (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile presented by PDJF and Yibir (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the GI Longines Turf.
Two other riders posted multiple wins: Joel Rosario and Jose Ortiz.
Rosario took the richest race of the weekend, the $6 million GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic with Knicks Go (Paynter) and Friday's GI NetJets Juvenile Fillies aboard 'Rising Star' Echo Zulu (Gun Runner).
The Shoemaker Award is named in honor of one of the greatest jockeys in the history of Thoroughbred racing. Bill Shoemaker, who captured the Kentucky Derby four times, won 8,833 races in a career that spanned more than 40 years. In 1987, at age 56, Shoemaker won the Breeders' Cup Classic aboard Ferdinand at Hollywood Park.
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