Kentucky Derby 2022: Jose Ortiz will ride Simplification
Jose Ortiz will ride Simplification in the 148th Kentucky Derby on May 7, his agent, Jim Riccio Jr., confirmed Thursday.
Ortiz has ridden Simplification to a victory in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream and a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Florida Derby there. Ortiz has been the regular rider of Early Voting, the Grade 3 Withers winner and Grade 2 Wood Memorial runner-up. While trainer Chad Brown has not discounted running Early Voting in the Kentucky Derby, he reiterated Thursday he is “60-40” leaning to running him in the Preakness on May 21.
Riccio said he and Ortiz agreed to ride Simplification because trainer Antonio Sano was seeking a commitment on the colt as soon as possible.
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“Sano needed an answer,” Riccio said “Chad could possibly wait to the Preakness. We had to commit and we’re happy to be on Simplification. We like both horses very much.”
The news was first reported by Horse Racing Nation.
Ortiz is 0 for 6 in the Kentucky Derby. He finished second in 2018 on Good Magic, trained by Brown, and was elevated from fourth to third in 2019 on Tacitus when Maximum Security was disqualified from first.
Meanwhile, Brown said Thursday that he wanted to give Early Voting a workout over the weekend at Belmont Park and then by Monday see if there were any changes to the Derby field. Early Voting has enough points to make the Derby field so Brown could wait until entry day on May 2 to make a decision on whether to run. But, he said, if he were to run the horse, he’d like to ship to Kentucky next week in time to get a workout over the Churchill strip.
“We’re not looking for a particular horse to come out, just what’s happening top to bottom,” Brown said.
In 2017, Brown and Seth Klarman, who owns Early Voting, skipped the Derby with Cloud Computing and won the Preakness. That year, Brown and Klarman had another horse for the Derby in Practical Joke. This year, Brown has one of the favorites for the Derby in Zandon, but that horse is owned by Jeff Drown. Klarman does not have another horse for the Derby.