2021 Eclipse Awards: Irad Ortiz Jr.

Irad Ortiz Jr. won five races on the New Year’s Day card at Gulfstream Park and it was a harbinger of another big year in 2021 for the three-time reigning Eclipse Award-winning jockey, who is a finalist again this year.

Ortiz finished the year with 336 wins, which led all riders in that category and marked the seventh consecutive year in which he won a minimum of 300 races. Ortiz’s mounts earned $29,274,435, second most behind Joel Rosario, and Ortiz’s second-best total of his career. There were 18 cards on which Ortiz won at least four races, including six-win days at Gulfstream Park (Feb. 6) and Aqueduct (April 3).

For the year, Ortiz finished third in stakes wins (60) and graded stakes victories (36), behind Joel Rosario and Flavien Prat in both categories. Ortiz won three Breeders’ Cup races – the Dirt Mile aboard Life Is Good, the Turf Sprint on Golden Pal, and the Juvenile Turf Sprint on Twilight Gleaming. Ortiz won four Grade 1 stakes aboard likely older female dirt champion Letruska and two Grade 1 turf stakes aboard Colonel Liam.

:: Full list of 2021 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

Ortiz set a record for wins at a Gulfstream Park winter meet with 140 victories, 115 of those coming in 2021, including the Grade 1 Florida Derby on Known Agenda. He was the leading rider at the Belmont Park fall meet and runner-up to Luis Saez at Saratoga.

On Oct. 7 at Belmont Park, the 29-year-old Ortiz won his 3,000th race (including wins in Puerto Rico).