Jose Ortiz returns a winner

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockey Jose Ortiz wasted little time announcing his presence at Gulfstream this winter by winning with his first mount at the Championship meet, Shar Ran ($6), in Thursday’s opener.

Shar Ran was the first horse Ortiz had ridden since undergoing knee surgery earlier this month. He inherited the mount from Julien Leparoux, who returned to Kentucky earlier this week for the birth of his second child.

Ortiz is the nation’s leading jockey with more than $27 million in purse earnings this season, and among the leading candidates for Eclipse Award honors in 2017. Shar Ran was the 267th winner this year for the 24-year-old journeyman, with 13 of those wins coming in Grade 1 races, including the Belmont Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Ortiz, who rode here regularly for the first time last winter, led the country with 351 victories in 2016.

Ortiz called his surgery “very minor.”

“I didn’t need to do any rehab, just the bicycle,” he said.

“The doctor told me, ‘Just rest and do bicycle and you’ll be ready to go.’ I’ve been cleared for over a week. I was cleared Dec. 14, but I wanted to wait until I was 100 percent, and now I’m 100 percent.”

◗ Jockey Luis Sanchez made an auspicious debut of his own here in Thursday’s third race, scoring by 11 lengths in his U.S. bow aboard Luna Lunita. The 21-year-old Sanchez rode 147 winners this year in Panama before moving his tack to south Florida for the winter. Sanchez is a graduate of the Laffit Pincay Jr. Jockey School

“It’s always been my dream to ride here, although it’s going to be a big challenge because the level here is so high,” said Sanchez.