#IRAD ORTIZ JOCKEY PROFESSIONAL#

Ortiz finished the year ranked #17 in North America by earnings. Ortiz and Questing would also win the Alabama Stakes, and Questing would earn the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old filly. When the filly won, McLaughlin retained Ortiz for the Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga in what would become Ortiz's first Grade 1 victory. In June 2012, Ortiz got his big break when trainer Kiaran McLaughlin put him on the filly Questing in an allowance race. In February 2012, Ortiz 'lost his bug', meaning he was no longer an apprentice and lost the weight allowance given to one. He would finish the year with 151 wins from 1,016 starts. Ortiz rode his first race at Belmont Park on June 17 and won his first American race on June 24 aboard Millennium Jet. Rosa also found an agent for Ortiz and acted as a mentor while Ortiz was settling in. In June, Pito Rosa, who works in the NYRA jockeys' room and was an old friend of Ortiz's grandfather, encouraged Ortiz to come to New York.

#IRAD ORTIZ JOCKEY PROFESSIONAL#

Ortiz began his professional riding career at Hipódromo Camarero in Puerto Rico on New Year’s Day, 2011, winning 76 of 357 starts over the following months. Ortiz has a daughter, Sarai, born in 2015. At age 16, Ortiz enrolled in Puerto Rico’s Escuela Vocacional Hípica, a school for prospective jockeys. Growing up, one of his idols was Ángel Cordero Jr., the first Puerto Rican jockey to be inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. 'We support each other, but you know, when we go out there, we are jockeys,' said José. His younger brother, José Ortiz, is also a leading jockey in New York. His grandfather, also named Irad Ortiz, was a jockey, as was uncle Iván Ortiz.

Ortiz was born in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. He won his third straight Eclipse Award in 2020 after again finishing first on both the earnings and wins list. In 2019, Ortiz repeated the Eclipse Award by leading in both wins and second places, as well as establishing a single-year earnings record for North American horse racing of $34,109,019. He had four winners at the 2019 Breeders' Cup event, including wins in both the $4 million Turf and the $6 million Classic. Ortiz won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in 2018 after leading the jockey list by both number of wins and earnings. He won the 2022 Belmont Stakes on Mo Donegal. He won his first Breeders' Cup race on Lady Eli in 2014, and his first American Classic on Creator in the 2016 Belmont Stakes. (born August 11, 1992) is a Puerto Rican jockey who has been a leading rider in the New York Thoroughbred horse racing circuit since 2012. Lady Eli, Mo Donegal, Newspaperofrecord, Questing, Shamrock Rose, Spun to Run,

Irad ortiz jockey