Trainer Ortiz faces purse losses after positive tests

John Ortiz, a trainer based in New York, is facing the loss of nearly $500,000 in purses after five of his horses tested positive for the regulated anti-inflammatory dexamethasone over a three-week period in November and December of last year, according to records posted on the website of the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit.

One of the horses, Braverthanubelieve, tested positive for dexamethasone twice – after a maiden win on Nov. 11 and then after winning the $500,000 New York Stallion Stakes Series on Dec. 6.

Ortiz did not immediately return a phone call on Thursday.

Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid that is often administered in powdered form, usually sprinkled over feed. It is a regulated medication, meaning it cannot appear above certain concentrations in a post-race sample.

Under the rules of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, a positive for any regulated or banned medication requires an automatic disqualification of the horse. The total purse earnings from the five horses in the six starts was $493,200.

If the horses are all disqualified, the winner of the New York Stallion Series will be Hot Currency, who was ridden by Flavien Prat, the 2025 Eclipse Award winner for champion jockey. At the end of the year, Prat finished second to Irad Ortiz Jr. (no relation to the trainer) in purse earnings by a mere $37,000. The redistributed purse will mean that Prat will receive an additional $175,000 in purse earnings, and he would then officially finish in first.

All six of the Ortiz positives were posted on the HIWU site on the same day, meaning that Ortiz was not likely aware of the first positive until all six testing results had been returned to HIWU. In cases in which a trainer is notified of multiple positives for the same medication, HIWU often treats the cases as one violation, absent aggravating circumstances.

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