Irad Ortiz, Jr.

Originally from Trujillo Alto in Puerto Rico, Ortiz is a graduate of that country’s Escuela Vocacional Hípica, a school for prospective jockeys. His grandfather, also named Irad Ortiz, was a jockey, and so are his uncle, Ivan Ortiz, and brother, Jose Ortiz.

Ortiz has found great success since moving to the states to ride, and in 2013 had a mount in the Belmont Stakes aboard Incognito, a Kiaran McLaughlin trainee taking a large set up in class for the Triple Crown race.

In 2014, Ortiz had a career-best year when winning 15 graded stakes races. His highlights were two Grade 1 victories on Sweet Reason and the season was topped off with a win in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Lady Eli, his first Breeders' Cup victory. In 2015 he piloted Lady Eli to victory in each of her first three races including the Grade 1, $1-million Belmont Oaks Invitational. The same year he won the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf with Stephanie's Kitten.

Ortiz earned a second mount in the Belmont Stakes in 2016, and he won his first American classic race when capturing the Belmont aboard Creator in a well-timed ride. Ortiz has ridden many other popular horses throughout his young career, including 2012 champion 3-year-old filly Questing, Kid Cruz, Vyjack and Birdatthewire.

Irad Ortiz Jr. won his first Breeders’ Cup race in 2014 aboard Lady Eli. Ortiz picked up his third win in the Breeders' Cup when he guided Bar of Gold to a 66-1 upset in the 2017 Filly and Mare Sprint. He added a fourth Breeders' Cup win in 2018 when he scored a front-running victory aboard Newspaperofrecord in the Juvenile Fillies Turf on “Future Stars Friday” on Nov. 2. He did not wait long to add to his resume. Ortiz guided Shamrock Rose to a victory from off the pace in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint to kick off the World Championships card on Saturday, Nov. 3.

In 2018, Ortiz also rode Grade 1 winners Diversify, Fourstar Crook, Robert Bruce, and A Raving Beauty. 

Ortiz had an even better year in 2019, winning four Breeders’ Cup races including the Classic aboard Vino Rosso, piloting Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar to an undefeated season, and setting a new earnings record with over $34 million. He was honored with the 2019 Eclipse Award as Outstanding Jockey.

Ortiz missed time in 2020 due to contracting the coronavirus but continued to rack up wins and earnings. He scored his tenth Breeders' Cup win to kick off the World Championships aboard Golden Pal in the Juvenile Turf Sprint, a year after winning the 2019 renewal on Four Wheel Drive, and picked up win #11 on Championship Saturday aboard the veteran Whitmore in the Sprint. He led all North American riders by both wins and purse earnings in 2020 and ranked second by graded stakes wins with 26, and those credentials were enough to earn him a third consecutive Eclipse Award as Outstanding Jockey.

In the midst of another stellar season in 2021, Ortiz got off to a good start in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Del Mar, winning the first of the 14 races, the Juvenile Turf Sprint, aboard Twilight Gleaming. It was his third consecutive victory in that race. The next day, Ortiz guided another Wesley Ward trainee, Golden Pal, to a clear win in the Turf Sprint and then piloted Life Is Good to an overpowering win in the Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile to pick up his 13^th and 14^th Breeders’ Cup wins overall.

In 2022, Ortiz was aboard Life Is Good for a dominant win in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Presented by 1/ST BET. A little over four months later, he picked up his second win in the Belmont Stakes aboard Mo Donegal.

Irad Ortiz Jr. continued his meteoric Breeders' Cup success in the 2022 event at Keeneland on Nov. 4-5, when he recorded the 15th, 16th, and 17th Breeders' Cup wins of his young career. On Friday, he scored a victory aboard Forte, whom he guided to victory in the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile for trainer Todd Pletcher. He won twice more on Saturday, first aboard Goodnight Olive for Chad Brown in the Filly & Mare Sprint, and then aboard Elite Power for trainer Bill Mott in the Sprint.

On Dec. 3, 2022, Ortiz won his 77th stakes race of 2022 when he scored on Dr B in the Grade 3 Go For Wand Handicap at Aqueduct. The victory broke the all-time record for stakes wins by a jockey in a single calendar year. Ortiz finished 2022 with 80 stakes wins, and he also set a single-season earnings record for North American jockeys of $37,075,772, eclipsing the previous record of $34.1 million he set in 2019. 

Ortiz’s 2023 season was highlighted by his second win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic aboard White Abarrio, plus a repeat wins in the World Championships with Goodnight Olive in the Filly and Mare Sprint and Elite Power in the Sprint, giving him 20 for his career. He was honored as 2023’s outstanding jockey by Eclipse Award voters for the fifth time in six years after besting his 2022 earnings mark with $39,192,585.

In 2024, Ortiz enjoyed another stellar year but conceded the Eclipse Award to Flavien Prat, who won for the first time. Ortiz was also shut out at the Breeders’ Cup although he finished second twice. He resumed his winning ways at the World Championships by taking the first race of the event at Del Mar, Oct. 31, aboard the filly Cy Fair in the Juvenile Turf Sprint.