Irad Ortiz, Jr. Shifting Tack To Kentucky For Fall Season
Five-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. will relocate from New York to Kentucky for the fall racing season, joining a competitive riding colony that includes his brother Jose Ortiz.
“My agent and I have talked about this for a little while now,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “There’s a lot of business in Kentucky and the racing is really strong.”
The veteran reinsman, who has led American jockeys in races won for eight consecutive seasons, made an immediate impact on opening night of Churchill Downs’ September meet Thursday, winning two of his four rides.
Ortiz, Jr. piloted new TDN Rising Star On Time Girl (Not This Time) to victory for trainer Brad Cox in race four, followed by a win aboard Show Time (Into Mischief) in the evening’s finale for trainer Norm Casse.
Both Ortiz brothers are represented by agent Steve Rushing, who has strategically positioned his clients to capitalize on Kentucky’s lucrative fall racing calendar.
The champion jockey has 21 mounts scheduled this weekend, including several in graded stakes competition. He’s set to ride Taken by the Wind (Rock Your World) for trainer Ken McPeek in the GIII Pocahontas Stakes, favored Alpine Princess (Classic Empire) in the GII Locust Grove Stakes for Cox, and McPeek-trained No More Cents (Goldencents) in the GIII Iroquois Stakes.
Kentucky’s fall racing season features prestigious meets at Churchill Downs and Keeneland, offering multiple graded stakes opportunities and substantial purses that have increasingly attracted elite riding talent from traditional East Coast bases.
