2018 Eclipse Awards: Irad Ortiz Jr.

Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. has for some time established himself as an elite rider, but one could argue the 26-year-old Puerto Rico native had a breakout year in 2018.

Ortiz led all North American-based riders in wins and mount earnings, with 346 and $27,727,039, respectively. He had 1,616 mounts in 2018. Ortiz also won an assortment of important races across the country – all while winning riding titles at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga.

Newspaperofrecord and Shamrock Rose gave Ortiz two Breeders’ Cup victories in November at Churchill Downs, Robert Bruce helped him lock up an Arlington Million in August at Arlington Park, and Diversify was a popular winner at home in the Whitney at Saratoga. In all, he won 30 graded races in 2018.

Ortiz won the Bill Shoemaker Award for top rider at the Breeders’ Cup.

In the Filly and Mare Sprint, he won a four-way photo with Shamrock Rose, who was 25-1.

“I let her be happy,” Ortiz told Daily Racing Form’s Marty McGee. “She settled nice for me. When I dropped in and got through horses, she came running.”

Ortiz’s win on Newspaperofrecord came in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

:: 2018 Eclipse Finalists: Profiles and photos for all categories

Ortiz guided Diversify to a front-running win in the Whitney.

“He proved that he can go that fast and keep going, so I don’t want to change anything on him,” Ortiz told Daily Racing Form’s David Grening.

“Irad really threw the gauntlet down at the half-mile pole,” Diversify’s trainer, Rick Violette, told Grening. “He said, ‘Let’s go’ and dared anybody to catch up.”

It was that kind of year for Ortiz.