Greatheart goes longer following one-mile maiden win

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – John Ortiz somehow lost a stylish pair of sunglasses amid all the whooping and hollering and thigh-slapping as the 148th Kentucky Derby was being run Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Good thing it was the worst thing that happened to him all weekend.

“Everybody was having a ball,” Ortiz said Monday, some 36 hours after sending out his first-ever Derby starter, Barber Road, to a respectable sixth-place finish. “Everybody was so happy. It was all so much fun, just a great experience.”

More good times are ahead for Ortiz, an up-and-coming trainer who has about 55 horses in his care between Churchill, Keeneland, and the Thoroughbred training center in Lexington, Ky. One of those is Greatheart, a bay 4-year-old who seems to have turned a corner since being gelded this winter. Shipped to Churchill shortly after earning a 90 Beyer Speed Figure in winning a one-mile maiden race April 22 at Oaklawn Park, Greatheart figures as a prime contender in a $127,000 first-level allowance that anchors the first Churchill program following a five-day break.

Greatheart, with Reylu Gutierrez riding, will break from post 1 when he faces seven other 3-year-olds and upward in a 1 3/16-mile race on the main track.

“Greatheart was always a horse we looked upon in a good way,” Ortiz said of the $400,000 yearling purchase, “but he didn’t act the part until we gelded him. He really stepped up last time. He ran a very impressive race and we hope he can keep it up. Actually, the more distance the better for him.”

Alejandro (post 5, Adam Beschizza), trained by Steve Asmussen, is among the chief opposition. The 4-year-old colt got a moment in the Derby Week spotlight when breezing alongside Epicenter in a May 1 drill that served as the final pre-race work for the eventual Derby favorite and runner-up. Alejandro has a 1-4-2 record from nine starts, with the lone win coming March 4 when going two turns at Fair Grounds.

Alejandro, by Curlin, was produced by Rachel’s Valentina, one of just two foals (with Jess’s Dream) for the great Rachel Alexandra, the 2009 Preakness winner for Asmussen.

Koolhaus (post 3, Ricardo Santana Jr.), Brigadier General (post 6, Brian Hernandez Jr.), and Macallan (post 8, Tyler Gaffalione) are other considerations in race 7, the only allowance on the card.

Thursday begins the 38-day post-Derby segment of a 2022 spring meet that runs through July 4. A four-day race week (Thursdays through Sundays) now becomes the norm, with all Thursdays being eight-race twilight cards that start at 5 p.m. Eastern. The latter portion of those programs will be run under the lights, with the last race going at 8:23.

Sunshine and a daytime high of 86 are in the Thursday forecast.