Irad Ortiz, Jr. was the winner of the 17th Bill Shoemaker Award, given annually to the most outstanding jockey at the Breeders' Cup World Championships.
The recipient of the Shoemaker Award for the second consecutive season, Ortiz, Jr. guided Four Wheel Drive (American Pharoah) to victory in the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint in the opening event of the weekend and posted three wins on Saturday: the GI Dirt Mile aboard Spun To Run (Hard Spun); the GI Longines Turf with Bricks and Mortar (Giant's Causeway) and the GI Longines Classic atop Vino Rosso (Curlin).
Javier Castellano and Joel Rosario each posted a pair of victories over the weekend.
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 more than 8,800 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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