Irad Ortiz Jr.

With 20 days down and 20 days to go for Saratoga 2024, the handle numbers are remarkably close to what NYRA posted in 2023. At the end of Wednesday's last race, $390,617,175 had been wagered on the meet, a 0.4 percent increase from the midway point of the 2023 meet. Last year's racing season was a trying one for NYRA as rain decimated parts of the meet. A total of $799,229,288 was bet on the 40 days of racing, a decline of 9 percent from 2022 figures. The wet weather...

Irad Ortiz Jr., currently North America's leading jockey based on victories and purse earnings, and first and second in those same categories at the current Saratoga Race Course meet, will serve a three-day suspension Aug. 14-16 stemming from the disqualification of his mount from a win in the seventh race there Aug. 1. Ortiz waived his right to an appeal, according to an Aug. 6 stewards' ruling posted on the New York State Gaming Commission website. The race in which Ortiz got disqualified was a 1 3/16-mile $25,000 starter-allowance. He...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Uncaged (Curlin) was unleashed in front of a big house at Saratoga Race Course on Whitney Day at Saratoga Race Course. And, at the end of the six-furlong $100,000 maiden special weight, Uncaged left no doubt. He and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. began revving up just outside the eighth pole and won going away by 1 3/4 lengths. Afterwards, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher and the ownership group of Repole Stable and WinStar Farm were more than pleased. Pedigree wise, you don't see Curlin progenies...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Here is what's next at Saratoga Race Course. Next (Not This Time) is. The 6-year-old gelding is the best long-distance dirt horse in the country, and, on Sunday, he'll attempt to prove it again when he runs in the $150,000 listed Birdstone Stakes at the Spa. If you want to see it, get to Saratoga early. The Birdstone is race No. 2 and has a scheduled post time of 1:44 p.m. A field of five is entered in the 1 3/4-mile Birdstone and Next is the overwhelming 1-9...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Last summer, we hardly knew Kentucky-based trainer Al Stall Jr. During the 40 days of the 2023 Saratoga meet, Stall came up with one win in 12 starts. It's a little different a year later. Four days into the Spa season and Stall has started three horses. He has won with two of them and finished second with the third. "This pays the bar tab and the food tab," Stall said inside his office at his barn on the Saratoga backstretch Sunday morning. "We have to start working...

SARATOGA, NY-Sunday morning brought a stark contrast to the previous day, with the skies opening up for several hours over the region. Like many others, the Todd Pletcher squad went out for some light work given the challenging conditions, creating a far more sedate overall atmosphere as opposed to the frenetic activity raging through Saratoga only a day earlier. In Saturday's GI Belmont S., Pletcher saddled a trio of runners in the Triple Crown's final jewel, with TDN Rising Star Mindframe (Constitution) just falling short by a half-length to winner...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY-Trainer Chad Brown was widely expected to win Friday's GI Just a Game S. However, the actual winner of the race proved to be a bit of question as the trainer was represented by five of seven of the runners in the one-mile turf event. After surviving a jockey's claim of foul, it was 4-1 chance Chili Flag (Fr) (Cityscape {GB}) who rose over the $1-million mark in earnings while annexing her first career Grade I-victory. Breaking well but eased to the back, Chili Flag was unhurried as...

3rd-Churchill Downs, $98,185, Alw (NW1X), Opt. Clm ($100,000), 5-4, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:43.17, gd, 7 1/2 lengths. MINDFRAME (c, 3, Constitution--Walk of Stars {SW, $154,944}, by Street Sense), a dominating 13 3/4-length winner of his seven-furlong debut on the Florida Derby undercard at Gulfstream Park Mar. 30 en route to 'TDN Rising Star' honors, handled his first two-turn assignment with aplomb, cruising home the easiest of winners in Churchill allowance company Saturday morning. Drawn the outside in a field of eight, the $600,000 Keeneland September yearling bounced away so well...

Billed as a showdown between the top three finishers of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, Keeneland's opening day GI Central Bank Ashland S.--worth not just $600,000 in purse money but also GI Kentucky Oaks points on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale--instead featured the blossoming of Whisper Hill Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Leslie's Rose (f, 3, Into Mischief--Wildwood Rose {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}), who left no doubt about the top filly on the day with a three-length tour de force. George Krikorian's Breeders' Cup winner and Eclipse champion Just F Y I...

Her Todd Pletcher-trained sire was fond of Gulfstream, getting the two biggest wins of his career in the GI Florida Derby and the GII Holy Bull S. at the Hallandale oval, and now LIFE'S AN AUDIBLE (f, 3, Audible--Catkins, by Data Link) is following suit, also for Pletcher. Showing a flair for drama, Life's an Audible waited until late and made it close in victory over last-out maiden winner Style Points (Oscar Performance) in the GIII Sweetest Chant S. at Gulfstream Park Saturday. Dynamic Pricing (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire})...

Noted rebounded from a disappointing ninth-place showing in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile last month to score his second stakes victory of the season in the Pulpit S. Victorious in Monmouth's Sapling S. in August after breaking his maiden at Saratoga, he missed graded victory by a nose Oct. 8 in Keeneland's GII Bourbon S. and finished way back in the field last month at the Breeders' Cup. Breaking as the 6-5 favorite and bumping with the outside runner, Noted settled in seventh for the lion's share of the race...

Eclipse Award winner Irad Ortiz Jr. was honored with the 21st Bill Shoemaker Award as the outstanding jockey for the 2023 Breeders' Cup after guiding three horses to victory over the two-day event. The Shoemaker Award is given to the rider with the most wins during the World Championships and Ortiz won it for a record fifth time this year. Ortiz guided White Abarrio (Race Day) to the win in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, Elite Power (Curlin) in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint and Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) in the...