The site quotes Jose Ortiz as telling the New Yorker, “We would go with him on Saturdays and we could watch races all day.” Growing up, they pretended they were jockeys as children, the website says.ģ. Irad did not become a jockey (their uncle Ivan did), but he managed an off-track betting parlor.” Co-owned by trainer Rudy Rodriguez with Parkland Thoroughbreds, Saratoga Kisses was in front at the half-mile call of the six-furlong maiden claiming sprint for New. The brothers’ website quotes the New Yorker as saying, “The brothers spent their early years in Trujillo Alto, a suburb of San Juan, where their parents, Irad and Wilma, lived. Jockey Umberto Rispoli won last years Shoemaker aboard Smooth Like Strait, but hes been. Irad Ortiz, Jr., winner of the last three Eclipse Awards for Outstanding Jockey, captured his 3,000th career win in Thursday’s fifth race aboard Saratoga Kisses at Belmont Park.
He’s from a family of horse racing jockeys.įor example, his grandfather of the same name, his uncle, Ivan Ortiz, and his brother, Irad Ortiz Jr., have all worked as jockeys. In 2013, the brothers were propelled into the headlines when they won “the first seven races on Aqueduct’s card with Jose earning three of the wins,” the site reports. rode his 3,000th career winner in the fifth race at Belmont Park. According to America’s Best Racing, “Jose Ortiz is a Puerto Rican jockey who currently rides on the New York circuit with his older brother Irad Ortiz Jr.”