Irad Ortiz Jr. rides 5 winners on Belmont card
Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. celebrates after Mo Donegal won the 154th running of the Belmont Stakes horse race June 11, 2022, at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. Ortiz rode five winners at Belmont Park on Saturday, June 17, 2023, including in the $200,000 Bed o’ Roses. Three of Ortiz’s winners are trained by Chad Brown, including Goodnight Olive - who won by a neck in the Bed o’ Roses. He also won the first and eighth races for the trainer. Credit: AP/Eduardo Munoz
NEW YORK — Irad Ortiz Jr. rode five winners at Belmont Park on Saturday, including in the $200,000 Bed o’ Roses.
Three of Ortiz Jr.'s winners are trained by Chad Brown, including Goodnight Olive who won by a neck in the Bed o’ Roses. He also won the first and eighth races for the trainer.
Ortiz Jr. won the second for Kelly Breen and the fifth for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.
Ortiz Jr., a four-time Eclipse Award-winning rider, is nearing 200 wins this year, including 25 wins in graded stakes races. He leads the jockeys’ standings at the spring-summer meet with 43 victories.
“It’s a lot of hard work,” he said. “All I do right now is work and go home and rest and come back and ride again. I feel blessed to be in this position.”
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