Ortiz poised to challenge for Spa riding title

Life was very simple for Irad Ortiz Jr. in 2011, when the then-18-year-old jockey first came to the U.S. Ride races in the afternoon. Watch replays and evaluate his performance and/or play video games at night and on dark days. It was even more fun when his brother, Jose, came to live with him a few months later.

Four years later, life has changed dramatically for Irad Ortiz. Now 22 and among the elite riders in New York, if not the country, when Ortiz goes home following a day at the races, there are two people waiting for him. Ortiz and his girlfriend, Meliza Betancourt, are the parents of a 5-month-old girl named Sarai.

“A baby changes your life,” Ortiz said during a recent interview at Belmont Park. “You love her more than you love yourself, more than anybody. It’s an amazing feeling. It’s different. Now I go home – I can’t wait to see my daughter. I’m still watching the replays after the races. We like to see it and correct what we’re doing wrong. My brother still does it, too. It’s just I do it at my house, and he does it at his house.”

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Ortiz hasn’t been doing too much wrong lately. Though he endured a 2-for-24 slump to end the Belmont spring-summer meeting and missed out on the riding title – losing to Javier Castellano by two wins – Ortiz comes to Saratoga as a major contender for top honors at this prestigious meet. Last summer, Ortiz won 53 races at Saratoga, second only to Castellano’s 58.

“I guess second behind Javier is a nice second because Javier is a nice jockey,” Ortiz said, reflecting on last year’s Saratoga meet. “He’s been here a lot of years. I looked forward to being the winner, but 53 winners in Saratoga, you can’t complain about it. You know how tough it is.”

To be successful at Saratoga, or anywhere, a jockey must be on live mounts. As someone who rides regularly for Chad Brown, Ortiz will not be lacking for live mounts. Of the 21 stakes Ortiz has won this year, nine have come for Brown.

“He fits a lot of my horses very well on both dirt and turf, particularly on turf,” Brown said. “He’s prepared when he comes to the paddock, he remembers a lot about horses he had ridden, and he’s good at taking that and applying it to the next time he rides them. I would say if he continues on this development path, he’s going to have an outstanding career.”

Ortiz’s career goal?

“One day, I want to be a famous jockey and be in the Hall of Fame,” he said.

Ortiz said he believes he’s made improvements since he first started riding here in the spring of 2011.

“I wouldn’t say I look much different, but I learned how to ride a horse [better] than when I first got here,” Ortiz said. “I learned from the good jockeys, and good trainers help me, too. They always tell me what I did wrong, and I try to figure it out for the next race. I’m always looking forward. If I’m okay with what I know right now, I’m never going to improve.”

When he first came to New York, Ortiz developed a friendship with Ramon Dominguez, the dominant rider on this circuit at the time. The bond was such that Ortiz was one of the first people at the hospital when Dominguez went down in a spill at Aqueduct in January 2013. Dominguez ultimately was forced to retire due to his injuries.

“When you come here every day, you spend more time here than in your house,” Ortiz said. “It’s like your family. He was a very, very special guy. He helped me from the day I got here. If I did something wrong, he comes up to me. He doesn’t scream or anything. He says, ‘I think you should do this.’ He’s a very class guy. The way he talked to me and the way he deals with me, I feel like he’s a real friend, and I love him.”

Though his primary focus now is on his daughter and girlfriend, Ortiz and his brother remain close. They still play dominoes often and will have houses just two minutes from each other this fall. Jose Ortiz has been extremely successful as well, finishing second in wins on this circuit in 2014, and while things have changed for his brother, he sees one thing that won’t change.

“Irad is very humble,” he said. “He knows where he is right now, and he’s doing a very good job being himself. I don’t think it’s going to change because he’s always been like that.”