Jose Ortiz

Tracy Farmer's Time To Dazzle, last seen finishing second behind In Our Time  in a 6 1/2-furlong optional claimer over the Kentucky Downs turf Sept. 10, turned the tables on that rival with a powerful last-to-first rally to win the GII Franklin Stakes at Keeneland Sunday. The 3-1 shot settled at the back of the field as In Our Time battled favored Luna Louska (Complexity) on the front end through a blistering opening quarter in :20.65. In Our Time skipped away entering the straight and was clear as the half...

Despite having already proven herself to be the model of consistency, R Disaster came into Saturday's GII Gallant Bloom Stakes still in search of her initial win at the graded level. However, the 4-year-old daughter of Awesome Slew was able to check that off her list with a confident score in the 6 1/2-furlong test at the Big A. Senza Parole (Gun Runner) got the jump at the start, however, the even-money choice also benefitted from a clean break and soon found herself at the head of affairs. Racing through...

Gun Runner, the Three Chimneys sensation whose yearlings topped the first four days of the ongoing Keeneland September sale, showed once again why he's in such demand as Spice Runner (c, 2, Gun Runner--Simple Surprise, by Cowboy Cal) captured the GIII Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs Saturday. The one-turn, one-mile Iroquois awards the first points of the 2025-26 season to the 2026 GI Kentucky Derby starting gate on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale. Comport (Collected), who had finished in front of Spice Runner in their two previous meetings, was second, while maiden...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Last Friday, trainer David Jacobson watched as his ultra-consistent 5-year-old gelding Banishing (Ghostzapper) won the $1-million GII Charles Town Classic Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths. Jacobson is toying with the idea of bringing Banishing back to the races on Sunday to run in the $1-million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes at Saratoga. All signs are pointing that way: the horse has already shipped up to the Spa and Jacobson entered Banishing in the race. He is among the nine horses that were entered Wednesday, which...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Big Dom's (McKinzie) gritty neck victory at Saratoga Race Course Saturday included a couple of noteworthy angles that had absolutely nothing to do with the running of the sixth race. Like his name. And his training partner. It took a strong performance from the Greenwell Thoroughbreds colt to edge Dr. Kapur (McKinzie) after they battled through the stretch. With Jose Ortiz aboard, the first-time starter completed the six-furlong $100,000 maiden special weight for 2-year-olds in 1:09.47 and paid $8.50. First, the name. Philadelphia Eagles fans know well the...

In high school, we'd call her a multi-sport athlete. A two-time varsity letter earner. Someone, horse or human alike, who has the skills to excel at more than one specialty is a rare commodity indeed and Kilwin (Twirling Candy) proved Saturday that she's as versatile as she is talented in taking the 100th running of the GI Test Stakes at Saratoga. This daughter of Twirling Candy, much like her sire, had plenty of early success on the grass, breaking her maiden at first asking for Rusty Arnold in a 5...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Just after 6:30 on a dreary, rainy Thursday morning, a 4-year-old gelding named Corruption (Medaglia d'Oro), with a long white blaze on his face, stuck his dark brown head out of his stall at Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse's barn on the Saratoga backstretch. Bright-eyed and inquisitive, he gobbled up a peppermint. If he could have spoken, he might have said, 'what's the big deal? I feel fine." About 15 1/2 hours prior, he wasn't. After winning Saratoga's fourth race on Wednesday and returning to...

Even though Nysos (Nyquist) was 1-10 on the board, Saturday's GII San Diego Handicap was a race he didn't have to win. He sprinted in his last two starts and had never been the distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth. He also has a couple of large gaps in his form, suggesting that trainer Bob Baffert was having a hard time keeping him together. None of that mattered in the San Diego. Flavin Prat, who flew in from Saratoga for the ride, rode a patient race and saved ground into the second...

6th-Saratoga, $90,000, (S), Msw, 7-18, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 1:06.47, ft, 2 3/4 lengths. ROCK IT ROB (c, 2, Maxfield--Miss Vigilance, by War Pass) got the better of an early pace duel with favored Cerro Rico (Yaupon), put that one away in upper stretch and kicked on nicely to become the fourth individual winner for his first-crop sire (by Street Sense) Friday afternoon at Saratoga. Bet into 19-10 from a 4-1 morning line, the $95,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-Bred yearling was hustled away from gate four by Jose Ortiz and flashed...

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Before this year, the last time Victor Espinoza rode at Saratoga was the summer of 2015, the year of American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile). "That was not a great memory," Espinoza said, recalling when the Triple Crown winner was upset in the Travers by Keen Ice (Curlin). The 53-year-old Hall of Fame jockey is hoping to make a better impression 10 years later as he is spending the summer at the Spa for the first ever. Espinoza, who owns 3,520 career victories, has been working the Saratoga...

Spa Prospector (Authentic) didn't fare well in her first career start. She was seventh, beaten nine lengths in a race at Churchill. Saturday's second race at Saratoga didn't figure to be any easier as it was filled with a collection of well-bred first-time-starters from some of the game's top stables. But trainer Tom Amoss went into the race with a lot of confidence in his filly. He was proven right and she skipped over the Saratoga slop to win the six-furlong race by 3 1/2 lengths under Jose Ortiz. "Why...

It's not often in the case of a horse's breeding that six-time leading general sire Into Mischief would the less-successful parent. But such is the case for Dr. Agne who not only claims Spendthrift's elite stallion on the top side but also is the third foal and second winner out of Eclipse-winning Turf Champion Lady Eli who banked nearly $3,000,000 in her career before selling to John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale for $4.2m at KEENOV in 2018. Dr. Agne himself went through the ring at Keeneland as a yearling last...