Ortiz brothers combine to sweep New York Stallion stakes

It was the Ortiz Brothers Show in divisions of the New York Stallion Series at Aqueduct on Saturday, as Vicki’s Dancer posted a pace-pressing win under Irad Ortiz Jr., and Readthebyline went wire to wire with Jose Ortiz.

In the Staten Island division for fillies and mares, Vicki’s Dancer ($8.60) stalked Uncle Southern through fractions of 23.24 and 46.37 seconds, wrested the lead in the stretch, and drove clear to prevail over Saythreehailmarys by 1 1/4 lengths as the second choice.

Trained by Rudy Rodriguez, the newly blinkered Vicki’s Dancer ran seven furlongs in 1:25.12 and earned $75,000.

"My trip was good,” said Irad Ortiz. “[Rudy] did a great job with the filly, adding blinkers today. It was a good change. She improved with the blinkers, and I think it helped a lot. She put me in a great position, and took off when I asked her.”

It was the first win for Vicki’s Dancer since taking the same race 364 days ago in her second start off a claim by Michael Dubb and Rodriguez.

“I thought with the blinkers on, she’d be a little closer,” said Rodriguez. “She hung in there pretty good. She likes this race. At Saratoga, it looked like she was hanging, hanging, hanging. Mr. Dubb suggested we put blinkers on and it worked.”

Saythreehailmarys was second by a half-length over Uncle Southern, who salvaged third.

Sunny Desert finished fifth as the 2-1 favorite.

In the Thunder Rumble division, the 5-year-old gelding Readthebyline ($13) returned to dirt after two off-the-board finishes on turf, and made every pole a winning one in his first start off a reclaim by Vincent Scuderi and trainer Michelle Nevin.

Readthebyline sped clear through splits of 22.84 and 45.70 seconds, and was never threatened through the stretch to win by 2 ¾ lengths over West Hills Giant, the odds-on favorite who was up to get second by a neck over 20-1 shot Geaux Mets.

“Michelle gets all the credit,” said Jose Ortiz. “She knows him and he runs good for her. I was pretty lucky when she got him back and put him in a stake. I got the easy lead, and he did it.”

Readthebyline, haltered for $40,000 from his last start, ran seven furlongs in 1:23.85 and earned $75,000 in notching his seventh career victory.

“We weren’t particularly pointing to this race, it just happened to come up,” said Nevin. “He does have a ton of speed coming out of the gate, so I was just hoping that nobody would go with him. He seems to do his best running up front.”