Suspensions will keep Irad Ortiz Jr. off mounts for first two weeks of Belmont meet

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. missed riding Thursday and Friday at Saratoga because of an issue with his wrist following an incident at the gate Wednesday.

Ortiz will miss the first 10 days of Belmont’s 27-day fall meet due to a pair of careless riding suspensions. He recently dropped his appeals of those suspensions and will sit Sept. 18 through Oct. 3. The suspensions are from rides at Belmont on July 2 and Saratoga on July 31.

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On Oct. 3, several tracks will hold stakes-laden cards, including Pimlico, which has the Preakness that day. Belmont Park and Keeneland will have final stepping-stones toward the Nov. 6-7 Breeders’ Cup that day.

Jose Ortiz will miss the first three days of the Belmont fall meet (Sept. 18-20) after dropping the appeal of a suspension handed him at Belmont from the seventh race on July 3. Javier Castellano will miss Sept. 20, 24, and 25 for dropping his appeal of a suspension handed him for his ride on Sadler’s Joy in the Grade 2 Bowling Green. Sadler’s Joy was disqualified from first and placed third.

◗ Saratoga-based jockeys Manny Franco, Castellano, John Velazquez, Tyler Gaffalione, and Ricardo Santana Jr. all head to Churchill Downs on Monday. They will have to get a negative COVID-19 test before they can ride at the meet there, which starts Tuesday. The Kentucky Derby is on Saturday.