Irad Ortiz Jr. (born August 11, 1992) is a Puerto Rican jockey who has been a leading rider in the New York

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...

horse racing circuit since 2012. He won his first

Breeders' Cup The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, ...

race on

Lady Eli Lady Eli (foaled February 2, 2012 in Kentucky) is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse who was named the American Champion Female Turf Horse of 2017. She first came to national attention when she won the 2014 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. S ...

in 2014, and his first

American Classic ''American Classic'' is the 57th studio album by American country music artist Willie Nelson, released on August 25, 2009. It focuses on the American popular songbook and standard jazz classics, and includes guest appearances by Norah Jones and ...

on Creator in the 2016 Belmont Stakes. He won the 2022 Belmont Stakes on

Mo Donegal Mo Donegal (foaled April 19, 2019) is a retired American Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 2022 Belmont Stakes horse race. The horse is owned by Donegal Racing and Repole Stable. Background Mo Donegal is named for his sire the champion horse ...

. Ortiz won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in 2018 after leading the jockey list by both number of wins and earnings. He had four winners at the

2019 Breeders' Cup The 2019 Breeders' Cup World Championships was the 36th edition of the premier event of the North American thoroughbred horse racing year. The 14 races, all but one of which were Grade I, took place on November 1 and 2 at Santa Anita Park in Ar ...

event, including wins in both the $4 million

Turf Sod, also known as turf, is the upper layer of soil with the grass growing on it that is often harvested into rolls. In Australian and British English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', and the word "sod" is limited mainly to agricult ...

and the $6 million

Classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

. In 2019, Ortiz repeated the Eclipse Award by leading in both wins and second places, as well as establishing a single-year earnings record for North American horse racing of $34,109,019. He won his third straight Eclipse Award in 2020 after again finishing first on both the earnings and wins list.

Personal life

Ortiz was born in

Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico Trujillo Alto (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Northern Coastal Plain, on the boundary between the karst zone and Sierra de Luquillo, north of Caguas, and Gurabo; southeast of San Juan, and west of Carolina. Truj ...

. His grandfather, also named Irad Ortiz, was a jockey, as was uncle Iván Ortiz. His younger brother, José Ortiz, is also a leading jockey in New York. "We support each other, but you know, when we go out there, we are jockeys," said José. Growing up, one of his idols was Ángel Cordero Jr., the first Puerto Rican jockey to be inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. At age 16, Ortiz enrolled in Puerto Rico’s Escuela Vocacional Hípica, a school for prospective jockeys. Ortiz has a daughter, Sarai, born in 2015.

Career

Ortiz began his professional riding career at Hipódromo Camarero in Puerto Rico on New Year’s Day, 2011, winning 76 of 357 starts over the following months. In June, Pito Rosa, who works in the NYRA jockeys' room and was an old friend of Ortiz's grandfather, encouraged Ortiz to come to New York. Rosa also found an agent for Ortiz and acted as a mentor while Ortiz was settling in. Ortiz rode his first race at Belmont Park on June 17 and won his first American race on June 24 aboard Millennium Jet. He would finish the year with 151 wins from 1,016 starts. In February 2012, Ortiz "lost his bug", meaning he was no longer an apprentice and lost the weight allowance given to one. Even so, his success continued. In June 2012, Ortiz got his big break when trainer

Kiaran McLaughlin Kiaran P. McLaughlin (born November 15, 1960, in Lexington, Kentucky) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer best known for training 2006 Horse of the Year Invasor. Background McLaughlin was born in an area of the country where horse r ...

put him on the filly Questing in an allowance race. When the filly won, McLaughlin retained Ortiz for the

Coaching Club American Oaks The Coaching Club American Oaks is a race for thoroughbred three-year-old fillies and the second leg of the Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing. Originally run at Belmont Park, the Grade I $500,000 stakes race was moved to Saratoga Race Course in ...

at Saratoga in what would become Ortiz's first Grade 1 victory. Ortiz and Questing would also win the Alabama Stakes, and Questing would earn the

Eclipse Award The Eclipse Award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th-century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. An Eclipse Award Trophy is presented to the winner in each division that is made by a few small selected American ...

for champion 3-year-old filly. Ortiz finished the year ranked #17 in North America by earnings. He finished second in the Eclipse Award voting for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey; his loss may have been due to spending the majority of the year as a journeyman rider. In 2013, Ortiz won 224 races and vaulted to the #5 ranking in North America by earnings. Highlights included wins in the

King's Bishop Stakes The H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes is a Graded stakes race, Grade I American thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run over a distance of seven furlongs on the dirt held in August at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. The ...

, Champagne Stakes and

Carter Handicap The Carter Handicap is a Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for three-years-old and older run over a distance of seven furlongs run annually in early April at Aqueduct Racetrack. Race history First run in 1895, the race was named for B ...

. He took his first riding title during Aqueduct's 2012-13 inner track meet. Irad Ortiz, Jr

In 2014, Ortiz won 15 graded stakes including his first victory at the Breeders' Cup in the Juvenile Fillies Turf aboard

. He tied

Javier Castellano Javier Castellano (born October 23, 1977, in Maracaibo, Zulia State, Venezuela) is a jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing. Castellano began his riding career in 1996 at Santa Rita and La Rinconada racecourses in Venezuela. In June 1997 ...

for the leading rider title (by number of wins) at Belmont Park's spring meet, then won the title outright for the fall meet. For the year, Ortiz finished third in North America by earnings. In 2015, he rode Stephanie’s Kitten to a win in the

Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf The Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for fillies and mares, three years old and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States as part of the Breeders' Cup World Champion ...

and Lady Shipman to victory in the Turf Sprint. He was the leading jockey at the Belmont Fall 2015 meeting. Ortiz had his 1,000th North American victory on November 22, 2015 aboard Island Therapy at Aqueduct. He finished second in the North American jockey standings by earnings. In 2016, Ortiz was unanimously voted the Jockeys' Guild Jockey of the Week for June 6th – 12th. Ortiz began the weekend by winning the Jersey Girl Stakes,

New York Stakes The New York Stakes is a Grade I American thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares aged four-years-old and older run over a distance of one and one-quarter miles on the turf scheduled annually in early June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New Yo ...

and Easy Goer Stakes. He then gained his fourth stakes victory of the week by winning his first

in the 2016 Belmont Stakes on Creator. "I thought Irad did a masterful job with all of his decisions," said Creator's trainer,

Steve Asmussen Steven Mark Asmussen (born November 18, 1965) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. The leading trainer in North America by wins, he is a two-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer and was inducted into the National M ...

. "He saved enough ground going into the first turn and stayed inside, and that gave us a chance to win." He again finished second in the North American jockey standings. In 2017, Ortiz finished third in the jockey standings by earnings and first by number of wins. He was an Eclipse Award finalist along with his brother José, who won. In 2018, he won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey after leading the jockey list by both number of wins and earnings. He won the Belmont spring/summer and Saratoga meets, the latter highlighted by a win in the

Whitney Handicap The Whitney Stakes (run as the Whitney Handicap through 2013 and still sometimes referred to as such) is an American Grade 1 stakes race for Thoroughbred racehorses three years of age and older run at a distance of miles. The current purse is $1, ...

on Diversify. He earned his 2,000th career win on September 15 aboard Gambler's Fallacy at Belmont Park. He won the Shoemaker Award for outstanding jockey at the

2018 Breeders' Cup The 2018 Breeders' Cup World Championships was the 35th edition of the premier event of the North American thoroughbred horse racing year. The 14 races, all but one of which were Grade I, took place on November 2 and 3 at Churchill Downs in Louis ...

after he won two races, the Juvenile Fillies Turf with

Newspaperofrecord Newspaperofrecord (foaled 1 March 2016) is an Irish-bred, American-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old in 2018, she was undefeated in three races including the Miss Grillo Stakes and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. After ...

and the Filly & Mare Sprint with Shamrock Rose, plus scoring five more top four finishes. Ortiz experienced a slowdown in business in the fall of 2019, finishing just ninth in the Belmont meet standings. However, he had an exceptional weekend at the 2019 Breeders' Cup with four winners, including

Bricks and Mortar Bricks and Mortar (foaled March 2, 2014) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was named the American Horse of the Year in 2019. After winning four of six starts at age three, he missed most of his four-year-old campaign due to illness. At a ...

in the $4 million Turf and

Vino Rosso Vino Rosso (foaled March 29, 2015) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2019 Breeders' Cup Classic. Racing career Vino Rosso made his racing debut on November 11, 2017 with a win at Aqueduct Racetrack. He then won his second rac ...

in the $6 million Classic. "Some riders have a good rapport with certain horses," said trainer Todd Pletcher. "Irad and Vino Rosso really gelled, you could see there was great chemistry there from the first time he got on him." He finished the year ranked first by number of wins and earnings, and received his second Eclipse Award. In 2020, Ortiz earned his third consecutive Eclipse Award, with highlights including a win in the

Breeders' Cup Sprint The Breeders' Cup Sprint is an American Weight for Age Grade I Thoroughbred horse race for horses three years old and older. Run on dirt Corrected grade for Santa Anita sprintover a distance of 6 Furlongs ( mile), the race has been held annually s ...

with Whitmore. On June 3, 2021, he was hospitalized after he was thrown when his mount stumbled in a maiden race at Belmont Park after moving to the lead. Ortiz was struck by one of the trailing horses but the CT scans and X-rays came back clean.

Year-end rankings

References

External links

Richard Migliore on Irad Ortiz Jr (2011)Puerto Rico's Ortiz brothers light up horse racing (2017)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortiz, Irad Jr. 1992 births Living people Puerto Rican jockeys American jockeys People from Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico