07/15/2012 6:48PM

Belmont Park: Jose Ortiz injured in closing-day spill; Dominguez, Dutrow win meet titles

By David Grening
Email

Jockey Jose Ortiz was taken to North Shore University Hospital on Sunday complaining of back and shoulder pain as a result of a spill in the eighth race of Belmont Park’s closing-day card.

There was a second spill on the card in which jockey Cornelio Velasquez was uninjured after being thrown from his mount, Salsa Mambo, leaving the gate in the ninth race.

However, Salsa Mambo had to be euthanized after she ran around the turf course and crashed through a rail. Salsa Mambo was the ninth racing-related fatality of the Belmont meet, according to the New York State Racing and Wagering Board’s database.

Ortiz was injured when his mount, Destination Moon, clipped heels with a horse in front of him at the half-mile pole of the eighth race. Ortiz went flying over the head of Destination Moon, who was reported to be okay.

Ortiz, a five-pound apprentice and the brother of Irad Ortiz Jr., had a solid Belmont meet, riding 14 winners from 165 mounts.

Ramon Dominguez who went winless on Sunday’s card, won his third straight Belmont riding title with 70 winners. Javier Castellano, who rode three winners Sunday, finished second with 60 wins. They were followed by Jose Lezcano (43), Rosie Napravnik (35), and Junior Alvarado (34).

Richard Dutrow Jr. won his fourth Belmont spring/summer trainer’s title, this year with 27 wins. Christophe Clement finished second with 22, followed by Rudy Rodriguez (19), Chad Brown (17), and David Jacobson (17).

Ken and Sarah Ramsey finished as the leading owner with 11 wins, followed by Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence (9), Phipps Stable (8), and Mike Repole (8). James Riccio, Darley Stable, and Drawing Away Stable finished in a three-way tie for fifth with seven wins.

Racing moves to Saratoga beginning Friday. First post is 1 p.m.

Dennis Fisher More than 1 year ago
Well done Richard Duttwow
mikey More than 1 year ago
Great country when DIRTROW who get's a 10 year ban win's a title.I hope the prize is a ticket to SING SING.Maybe now he has money to last the rest of his life.Only racing which is a so-called major sport has no one to inforce the ban's.Let him sue NYRA who will be gone soon.
John More than 1 year ago
An unanswered question. Why do honest trainers allow their livelihood to be threatened by trainers who are cheating?
Ray Sousa More than 1 year ago
NEW YORK RACING SHOULD BE ASHAMED!,r duthrow jr winning the trainers title at belmont just serves to prove how crooked the sport has become,where a guy serving a 10 year suspension for various, not one but many violations,is given stables and allowed to continue like nothing happend.this is clearly a slap in the face of every bettor who wants the sport to be clean,his ex assistent finhed 3rd (rudy rodtigues)with a relatively small stable,futher proof that there is something seriously flawed going on with the way ny tracks test for drugs.
John More than 1 year ago
You are correct, NYRA should uphold its own rules and not allow countless appeals so cheats can dodge justice. Dutrow obviously should be banned, not for ten years, for life.
mikey More than 1 year ago
New York is as broken down as a lot of the horse's allowed to race.9 horse's put down in such a short meet is a crime.No one care's not even PETA OR THE GOV.LUCK WAS FORCED TO STOP FILMING WHEN 3 HORSE'S WENT DOWN.WHAT'S THE OVER/UNDER AT THE SPA.
Ted Shezansky More than 1 year ago
John, you are a dumbass: by allowing appeals, NYRA *is* upholding its own rules. People like you would screw everything up by NOT following the rules; you would just throw out Dutrow without giving him his due process...then he could sue and get back in FOREVER on a technicality. Stupid, because you can't wait for the process to unfold.
DSCheese1 More than 1 year ago
A little better description of the Salsa Mambo incident is required here. She crashed through the rail because the outrider was being WAY too aggressive trying to corral her after the race. This isn't a rodeo. Just run with the horse until she gets tired and slows down. She crashed through the rail because the outrider made a grab for her while chasing at high speed, and she veered away. I hope this incident is reviewed and the outriders reminded of the proper way to do their job.
Gee More than 1 year ago
bad situation, damed if u do damed if u dont
Adam Mooshian More than 1 year ago
Since I was standing on the turf course, I can say that Althea did her job. In hindsight, everything is clear. She was trying to pinch the horse into the rail so as to grab onto her. HOWEVER, my question is why they took the outer rail down on the inner turf course -- this might have been avoided.
Anonymous More than 1 year ago
Something tells me 'trying to pinch a horse into the rail' while sprinting is a bad idea. He spooked the horse right through the rail. That's a fact.
Cathy D'Alisera More than 1 year ago
yes thats true
DSCheese1 More than 1 year ago
Yes, you can say it, but that doesn't mean you're correct. I completely agree with the first reply to your post. Pinching the horse into the rail is unnecessarily dangerous, and it doesn't require hindsight to reach that conclusion, just common sense. Maybe the outer rails were already on their way to Saratoga... seems like half the facility was gone already by the time they ran the last race...
Adam Mooshian More than 1 year ago
Pinching might not be the most correct word to have used. I have seen this technique used at every track in which a horse was loose. They attempt to direct the horse to a spot or position in which its more advantageous, and safer, to be caught. However, there was no rail there to be corralled into.
Cathy D'Alisera More than 1 year ago
I was there and you are right!!! that horse did not need to die. It was human error!
Bsb Jaws More than 1 year ago
Get a clue . Aggresiveness is required to do that job. Just run with her until she gets tired eh ? Is that what they did when a loose horse exited the grounds and ran 5 miles through the streets of NY several years ago ? It was sheer luck that humans did not get killed that time !!
DSCheese1 More than 1 year ago
I didn't say aggressiveness is not required; I said in this specific case, the level of aggression was not warranted. Had you actually seen it, you might even agree. And I'm pretty sure that a horse running loose on the inner turf course was in no danger of ending up galloping down Hempstead Turnpike, so lay off the hyperbole.
Justin Pringle More than 1 year ago
i dont usually comment on these posts... but working at the races for many of years... risks have to be taken with the occurrence of a loose horse... the outrider was doing their job... u have to take into account that there are other horses on the trach finishing out a race... she could easily run into one of them on the pull up... Secondly... If u could tell me what a horse is gonna do before it does it u should be workin on the racetrack with us.. Ive seen this instance happen thousands of times... Loose horse running, outrider makes a grab, horse stops suddenly turns around and runs the other way, or horse tries to jump the outside rail, or horse barrrels into the pony and outrider, or horse runs into oncoming horse... there are many variables that can happen.
DSCheese1 More than 1 year ago
Interesting that the people defending the approach taken by the outrider, are people who work on the grounds, at least one of whom is on a first name basis with the rider in question. As long as we're accepting biased opinions, let's go ask the connections of the horse and see if they agree that the actions taken were optimal and appropriate.
Anonymous More than 1 year ago
NYRA has the best racing, racing circuit and pool handles in the country. Let us hope they thrive into the future. Hopefully be allowed to run as a private business someday. My persistent gripe being a NYRA one account holder is their Telephone Touch Tone betting entry system is broke. As great as NYRA is and I love their racing they can't seam to fix the ALL feature in touch tone bet entry. I have given countless hours of my time documenting and communicating about this with them and their tote provider. Will it be fixed ever? Who knows. That is what I miss about Mr Nader. When he was there you could get something fixed or changed. After spending a year trying to get this fixed I stopped using their ADW. So maybe now 1 to almost 2 years later the problem is resolved. But I doubt it becuase the software person sent me an email saying it was not a priority. Ridicoulous.
nicola c More than 1 year ago
dutrow should not be allowed train U.S racing is a joke
Gee More than 1 year ago
Best claiming trainer since Bobby Frankel
Ray Sousa More than 1 year ago
biggest cheat ever
Dave Schuler More than 1 year ago
agreed-loosers are never happy-lolkDS
Dave Schuler More than 1 year ago
Agree with Gee Lolk-DS
DAVID SIEDEL More than 1 year ago
Best lawyers money can buy. Dutrow, Delp, KTL, Bowie Race Course Crying my eyes out.
Anonymous More than 1 year ago
Richard Dutrow Jr LOL
JoyJackson21 More than 1 year ago
Poor Salsa Mambo - R.I.P. lovely filly. Happy to hear Cornelio Velasquez and Destination Moon are both unharmed, wishing a speedy recovery to Jose Ortiz. And congratulations to Ramon Dominquez on his third Belmont riding title.