Irad Ortiz, Jr. to ride Wonder Gadot in Travers
By Stan Hudy SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » When one door opens….. your agent gets calls.
On Sunday afternoon, trainer Bill Mott announced that Curlin Stakes winner Hofburg would not race in Saturday’s Travers due to a fever.
That took the thirdplace finisher of the Belmont Stakes and its scheduled jockey and the Saratoga meet leading jockey, Irad Ortiz, Jr. out of Saturday’s biggest stakes race this summer.
“I let my agent do his job and I just was a little sad that Hofburg could not make the race,” Irad Ortiz, Jr. said. “I was very excited about him, the he way he was coming into the race. You want to win that race; you want to be out there.
“I want to be out there (riding in Travers). We had nothing and this come out. He (agent Steve Rushing) called and said you are in the Travers.”
Riding the Mark Casse owned filly will be different for Ortiz, Jr.
“I have seen her work and she has worked really good, I don’t know too much about her,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “I will talk to (Casse).
“I have watched some of her races. She will be facing probably the best 3-yearolds that are in training in the country… we are going to see, but I think she has talent.”
Ortiz Jr. isn’t wary of riding an unfamiliar championship caliber thoroughbred for the first time in a big stakes race.
“I had never been on Creator and I got him the first time and we won the Belmont (2016),” Ortiz Jr. said. “Never been on him, never worked him, never seen him, I just got him and won with him.
“Same thing with thing with Capo Bastone for Pletcher (King’s Bishop in 2013), Havana in the Champagne (2013).
I am comfortable. I will get on the horse and know something about her.”
The poor news regarding Hofburg gave trainer Mark Casse a chance to offer Ortiz, Jr. the ride.
“Irad is as good as they come,” Mark Casse said. “He’s having an unbelievable meet and it seemed like an obvious choice.”
Even with a second chance to ride in the Travers, Ortiz Jr. was still aching over the news that Hofburg was unavailable due to illness.
“That’s my boy, I love him, I was so excited about him,” Ortiz Jr. said. “I love that horse. I know he is going to show up in a big race.”
Despite Sunday’s disappointing news, Ortiz, Jr. has a chance to make history with his first Travers win on a filly. The last filly to win the Travers was Lady Rotha in 1915.
“That is history with a filly, for me, it’s the biggest race in Saratoga,” Ortiz said.
“If she is in the race, she has a chance. The only ones that don’t have a chance are the ones still in stalls. If she is out of the gate, she has a chance.”