Ortiz doing well following ugly-looking spill; will miss two weeks
ELMONT, N.Y. - Irad Ortiz Jr., the three-time reigning Eclipse Award winning jockey, will miss approximately two weeks of action as the result of injuries suffered in a spill during the running of Thursday’s fifth race at Belmont Park.
Ortiz needed six stitches in his head and five in his left forearm but otherwise was okay following what visually could have been much worse. Ortiz was aboard Equal Pay, a first-time-starting 3-year-old filly who had just made the front in upper stretch. At the three-sixteenths pole, Equal Pay switched to her right lead and seemed to trip herself and stumble, catapulting Ortiz off the horse.
After hitting the ground hard, Ortiz was hit in the head by a trailing horse, Brooks’s Edge, ridden by Junior Alvarado. Ortiz, whose helmet was cracked, also had his arm stepped on. Ortiz was quickly attended to by on-site emergency medical technicians. He was placed on a stretcher and taken to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, where X-rays and a CT scan were clean.
Ortiz was released from the hospital late Thursday night. On Friday, he face-timed with his agent, Steve Rushing, who was pleasantly surprised with how well Ortiz seemed to be doing.
“He said he felt better today, than he did last night,” Rushing said. “I told him I don’t know what brand of helmet you have, but make sure you get another one.”
Rushing said Ortiz told him he did not have any concussion-like issues.
Chad Brown, the trainer of Equal Pay, said the 3-year-old filly is “perfectly sound.”
Ortiz, 28, was forced to miss major mounts on both Friday and Saturday’s stakes-laden programs at Belmont Park.
Ortiz was scheduled to ride Known Agenda in the Belmont Stakes. Trainer Todd Pletcher said he would wait until Saturday before naming a rider. Among those without mounts in the Belmont are Jose Ortiz, Javier Castellano, and Mike Smith.
Jose Ortiz picked up his brother’s mounts Drain the Clock (Woody Stephens) and Mischevious Alex (Metropolitan) on Saturday and Firenze Fire (True North) and Conviction Trade (Belmont Gold Cup) on Friday. Other riding assignments for Saturday had not yet been finalized.
Ortiz has won the Eclipse Award as North America’s leading jockey in each of the last three years. He has led all riders in wins and purse-money won in those years and, so far in 2021, leads in both categories with 185 wins and $11,663,424 in purse money.