Irad Ortiz Jr. sets single-year earnings record

Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. not only rode four winners from five mounts on his first day riding at Gulfstream Park’s winter meet on Thursday, but in doing so, he set a single-season record for earnings by a jockey with $39,200,190 – with nearly four weeks remaining in the year.

Ortiz, who could very well become the first rider to eclipse the $40 million mark in one year, broke his own record of $39,193,365 set in 2023.

“It means a lot. It means we had a great year,” Ortiz said shortly before he rode Skip Forward to a fifth-place finish in Friday’s opener at Gulfstream. “I’m just happy to be able to do what we’re doing. I’ve gotten huge support from everybody. Everywhere I go, people have been supporting me and I’m so happy with my agent, Steve Rushing."

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Ortiz, a five-time Eclipse Award winner, is in a pitched battle for the honor this year with Flavien Prat, who won his first Eclipse Award last year. Ortiz leads all riders in wins with 332. Prat is fourth in wins (289) and second in earnings ($38,359,758) entering Friday, but he leads Ortiz 42-34 in graded stakes wins and 68-62 in overall stakes victories.

Ortiz won the Saratoga riding title. He subsequently moved his tack to Kentucky, where he was leading rider at the Keeneland and Churchill Downs fall meets after finishing second in the standings at the Kentucky Downs and Churchill September meets.

Ortiz, a perennial leading rider on the New York Racing Association circuit, was scheduled to ride at Aqueduct on Saturday’s final card of major graded stakes action for the year in New York.

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