Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Irad Ortiz to join brethren of superstars in jocks’ room
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Joel Rosario and Luis Saez dominated the first two cards of the Keeneland spring meet that opened last weekend, but they’ll have to make room for another superstar in the jockeys’ room – at least for this week.
Irad Ortiz Jr., fresh from a six-win Saturday at Aqueduct, will ride Wednesday through Sunday at Keeneland in what is expected to be his only action here during a 15-day meet that runs through April 23. Ortiz will return to the state at some point late this month for Kentucky Derby week at Churchill Downs in Louisville, according to agent Steve Rushing.
Ortiz, the three-time reigning Eclipse champion jockey, set a record for most winners (140) at the recently ended Gulfstream Park championship meet. He leads all jockeys in 2021 in wins (130) and earnings ($6.18 million), excluding overseas statistics.
Ortiz’s stakes mounts this coming weekend include Raging Bull for Chad Brown in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile on Friday; Tamahere for Brown in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley on Saturday; and Swiftsure for Steve Asmussen in the Grade 3 Lexington, also Saturday.
Meanwhile, it could be quite some time before a jockey replicates what Rosario accomplished here opening weekend. Remarkably, he won six of the nine stakes, including the Grade 1 Ashland on Malathaat and the Grade 1 Madison on Kimari. Rosario, who set an all-time single meet Keeneland record by riding 38 winners at the 2013 spring meet, won just one nonstakes race, that being a deadheat triumph in the fourth race Saturday aboard Enjoy it while we can.
Saez, who only the previous weekend won the $12 million Dubai World Cup on Mystic Guide, also had a huge first two days. He helped keep the likely Kentucky Derby favorite, Essential Quality, unbeaten in five career starts, urging the colt to a hard-earned neck victory Saturday in the annual spring showcase, the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes. Saez also had five other winners, including Twenty Carat in the Grade 3 Beaumont on Friday and Jouster in the Grade 2 Appalachian on Saturday.
Mystic Guide on scene
Mystic Guide, the 3 3/4-length winner of the March 27 Dubai World Cup, returned to the Mike Stidham shed row at Keeneland over the weekend after clearing quarantine following his return flight from overseas.
“He came back really well,” Stidham said early Monday. “He’ll stay with me here until the end of the meet, and then we’ll take him back to Fair Hill,” the northern Maryland training center where Stidham has his primary year-round base.
There is no specific target for Mystic Guide, a 4-year-old Godolphin homebred, other than working backward from the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar.
Mystic Guide has assumed the No. 1 spot in the weekly NTRA top Thoroughbred poll on the strength of his romps in the Feb. 27 Razorback at Oaklawn and Dubai World Cup.
Orseno unhappy with Lasix ban
Trainer Joe Orseno said his star turf sprinter Imprimis bled from the nostrils when beaten just a nose Saturday by Bound for Nowhere in the Grade 2 Shakertown and blasted the new Keeneland policy that bans usage of the bleeder medication Lasix in stakes races during a post-race interview.
“They’re taking the best horses in the country and they’re penalizing them,” said Orseno, who won his first race in 1977. “My horse bled today, visibly, blood coming out of his nose. How is that good for the public’s perception? It’s just not fair.”
Orseno said Monday that part of the bleeding incident stemmed from Imprimis banging his head on the starting gate when breaking through prior to the break, but “we did scope him afterward, and there was blood in the trachea, although not as much as all the blood we saw would’ve suggested.”
Lasix usage is being phased out in numerous jurisdictions following the December passage of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act. Uniform guidelines across the country are scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2022.
◗ Julien Leparoux became just the fourth jockey to win 500 races at Keeneland when Gear Jockey ($4.40) captured the fifth race on opening day. Only Pat Day (918), Don Brumfield (716), and Robby Albarado (526) have ridden more winners here than Leparoux, who has won or tied for 12 Keeneland riding titles since 2006.
◗ All-sources handle on an 11-race Blue Grass card was $22,723,198. The Keeneland record for a non-Breeders’ Cup card is $25.8 million, set on Blue Grass Day 2019. Total handle on the Blue Grass card run last July after the 2020 spring meet was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic was $23.8 million.
◗ Field size from the first 21 races at the spring meet averaged 8.33 horses per race, which is comparable to the 8.60 average during 149 races at the 2019 spring meet. Favorites won 10 of 21 (48 percent), compared to a 42 percent win strike for favorites at 2019 spring.
◗ Workout activity for Derby hopefuls at Churchill is already under way. Mandaloun, who definitely has enough points to make the May 1 race, breezed a half-mile in 49.80 seconds Saturday, while O Besos, on the bubble, went a half-mile in 49 seconds Monday.