Belmont Racing Festival Success Nets Jose Ortiz Jockey Of The Week Title Sponsored by:
Jose Ortiz celebrates Letruska s win in the G1 Ogden Phipps Stakes
Jose Ortiz won two Grade 1 stakes races and a Grade 2 stakes during Belmont Park s Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, earning Jockey of the Week for June 1 through June 6. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.
While Ortiz was originally scheduled to ride numerous mounts during the three-day Racing Festival, he picked up several more after his brother, Irad, went down in an on-track accident Thursday requiring jockey changes for Friday and Saturday. To everyone s relief, Irad was not seriously injured and is scheduled to return to riding soon. Jose went on to make the most of the mounts he picked up.
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“That was a long way around there a mile a half but it was exciting,” Cox said. “It looked like the horse on the inside, he still had run left. I knew it was going to be a battle down the line.”
Preakness winner Rombauer was third and Known Agenda fourth.
The striking gray finished fourth as a beaten favorite in the Kentucky Derby because of a rough trip. Essential Quality showed in the Belmont why he has long been considered one of the top 3-year-olds in the country.
Backdooring his way to becoming the first Louisville-born trainer to win the Kentucky Derby didn’t allow Cox the same joy of victory as the Belmont, which the up-and-coming star will likely remember as his first true Triple Crown triumph.