Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. moving tack to Gulfstream

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Gulfstream Park jockey colony will get even stronger with the arrival of Irad Ortiz Jr., who will begin riding regularly here on Friday.

According to his agent, Steve Rushing, Ortiz just had enough of the cold weather and growing string of weather-related cancellations this winter at Aqueduct in New York. He made the decision to switch his tack to south Florida and join his brother Jose at Gulfstream following another spate of frigid weather and cancellations in New York this past weekend.

“Irad had originally considered riding at Gulfstream this winter before finally deciding to stay home again this year,” Rushing said. “But a combination of the extreme cold weather, with no relief in sight, and recent cancellations led to the decision to come down earlier than we’d planned.”

Rushing said Ortiz had already planned on riding at Gulfstream during March, when Aqueduct switches to three days a week.

“It’s probably going to take a little time to work back in, since a lot of the calls in the current condition book have already been given out,” Rushing said. “But we picked up four calls for Friday’s card, and it seems like a lot of our regular clients are very happy to hear he’ll be down here on a regular basis.”

Ortiz has already made a major impact on the 2017-18 Championship meeting, winning three stakes on the Clasico del Caribe International card on Dec. 9, including the main event atop Jala Jala. He returned the following week to win two Grade 3 stakes, the Rampart with Lewis Bay and My Charmer aboard On Leave.

Ortiz concluded his best year yet in 2017, leading the nation with 317 victories, with his mounts earning just under $23 million. Ortiz has ridden 1,657 winners since launching his riding career in 2011, while drawing high praise, along with his brother Jose, from one of the legends of the sport, Hall of Famer Angel Cordero Jr.

“I am so proud of what the Ortiz brothers have done in such a short period of time,” Cordero said. “It took me and Johnny [Velazquez] 10-15 years to accomplish what those two have accomplished in just three or four years.”

Cordero said that Manny Franco, whom he represents in New York, could join the Ortizes, Velazquez, Javier Castellano, and Luis Saez in the local colony, at least on a temporary basis, if the temperatures don’t moderate soon up north.

“We’re waiting to see what’s going to happen, but if the weather continues to stay the way it has been and programs continue to be canceled at Aqueduct, I’ll probably bring Manny down here, at least for for a while,” Cordero said.

Franco is the regular rider for Remsen winner Catholic Boy, who is expected to make his 3-year-old debut next month in the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.