Irad Ortiz, Jr. Named 2025 Venezia Award Winner By NYRA
Updated: August 15, 2025 at 12:23 pm
The New York Racing Association has named multiple Eclipse winning jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. as the recipient of the 2025 Mike Venezia Memorial Award, according to a press release from the track on Friday.
Ortiz, Jr., based this summer at Saratoga Race Course, was chosen by a committee comprised of members of the Venezia family, representatives of The Jockeys' Guild and retired Eclipse Award-winning rider Richard Migliore. A ceremony at Saratoga will be held on Friday, Aug. 22.
“Joining the list of winners of the Venezia Memorial Award is a great honor and very humbling,” said Ortiz, Jr. “I look forward to thanking the Venezia family here at Saratoga, and sharing this with my family.”
The award is presented annually to a jockey who displays the exemplary sportsmanship and citizenship that personified Venezia, who died as the result of injuries suffered in a spill in 1988.