Jockey Irad Ortiz injury not serious, but no clear date on return

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. appeared to have escaped serious injury after an on-track incident at Saratoga on Saturday, but it is not clear when he will return to race-riding.

Ortiz injured his left foot when his horse, the second-time starting 2-year-old And the Runner Is, ran off with him as Ortiz took him away from the pony in an attempt to warm the horse up prior to Saturday’s seventh race. The horse bolted for the outside rail and Ortiz’s foot hit the rail. And The Runner Is was scratched and Ortiz was taken to a local hospital for X-rays, which were negative.

Ortiz took off his remaining mounts on Saturday’s card, which included Rhetorical in the Grade 1 Fourstardave and White Abarrio in the Grade 1 Whitney. He took off all of his mounts on Sunday.

“It’s pretty swollen and tender,” Steve Rushing, Ortiz’s agent, said Sunday afternoon. “We have to wait for the swelling to come down and then the doctor said he can go back when he feels able. It’s basically day to day.”

Ortiz has won seven Saratoga riding titles, including the last four in a row. He missed the first week of this meet due to riding suspensions. He has won 30 races at the meet, which puts him fourth in the standings, 10 behind his brother Jose, through Sunday’s 24th day of racing.

Ortiz is named to ride in all eight of the flat races on Wednesday’s card.

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