Former trainer Ortiz fined $500 for six Dexamethasone positives

John Ortiz, who announced his retirement from training horses in early October, was fined $500 but received no suspension from the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit [HIWU] for six positive tests for the controlled substance Dexamethasone, a corticosteroid used to treat anything from respiratory issues to joint inflammation.

The medication, not allowed to be present in horses on raceday, was found in five horses who competed in six races at Aqueduct from Nov. 22 through Dec.11, 2025. Four of the five horses won, including the 2-year-old New York-bred filly Braverthanubelieve, who won twice - the $500,000 Fifth Avenue Division of the New York Stallion Series on Dec. 6 and a maiden race on Nov. 22.

Other horses trained by Ortiz who tested positive during that time were Moe Eighty Eight, who won a New York-bred allowance by 8 1/2 lengths on Nov. 29; Doc Sullivan, who won a New York Stallion Series race by 5 1/2 lengths on Nov. 22; Drop Me a Dime, who won maiden claimer by eight lengths on Dec. 11; and Quietside, who finished second to Fully Subscribed in the Grade 3 Comely Stakes on Dec. 7.

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According to the ruling published on the HIWU website, Ortiz “”testified that in several instances [Ortiz] had caused the [horses] to be treated with Dexamethasone four days prior to racing and in some cases he had not done so. He offered no other explanation for the presence of the drug in the post-race samples.”

When Ortiz announced his retirement from training, he told Blood-Horse that he wanted to spend more time with his family and that the positive tests had nothing to do with his decision to stop training.

One of the reasons the penalty handed Ortiz was so minimal is that the six positives were treated as one. In cases in which a trainer is not notified of the first positive test before the occurrence of the other positives, HIWU treats the cases as one violation, absent aggravating circumstances.

Ortiz has 30 days to appeal the penalty, though since he is retired it would seem pointless to do so.

In each of the six races, the horses, all owned by TriStar Racing, the racing and breeding operation of Glen Lostritto, will be disqualified. A total of $493,200 in purse money earned by those horses in those races will be forfeited.

When the horses are officially disqualified from their races and the purse money is redistributed, Flavien Prat will become the leading money-earning rider for 2025. Hot Currency, who Prat rode to a second-place finish in the Fifth Avenue, will be elevated to first and her earnings will increase by $175,000. According to Equibase, Prat’s earnings for 2025 were $40,469,428, which was $68,676 less than earnings recorded by Irad Ortiz Jr.

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