“Take the good with the bad,” Ortiz said. He dipped to nine victories and $825,337 in purse earnings last season. Ortiz had a monster 2021-2022 Oaklawn meeting, finishing with 27 victories to tie for fourth in the standings and amassing $2,670,871 in purses. Ortiz’s Oaklawn contingent includes Top Gunner, who is entered in the $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes, and Ice Orchid, the 7-2 program favorite for the $150,000 Mistletoe Stakes. “We’re definitely looking at our (Kentucky) Oaks options here, for sure,” Ortiz said. Ortiz said Brightwork is vacationing at WinStar Farm in Kentucky after finishing sixth in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) Nov. 3 at Saratoga, marking the first career Grade 1 victory for Ortiz. One horse headed to Palm Meadows, Ortiz said, is Grade 1 winner Brightwork, among the country’s top 2-year-old fillies of 2023.īrightwork won the $300,000 Spinaway Stakes Sept. Oaklawn’s scheduled 66-day meeting concludes May 4.

“Have them ready for the end of the meet here.” “We’re going to have all horses that we need to leg up get started in Florida,” Ortiz said. Ortiz cited better weather as a major factor for the move, adding it allows his horses to maintain a more consistent training schedule. John Ortiz had two winners last month at Gulfstream Park in suburban Miami. Now, Ortiz said he has roughly 30 horses under the care of younger brother Daniel at Palm Meadows Training Center, about 50 miles north of Miami, and some 25 at Oaklawn. Ortiz had previously split his stable between Arkansas and Kentucky in the winter. Try to spread it out even, but focus on the track here, the races here, as much as we can.” “I’m going to try to be three weeks on here and one week in Florida. “This year, unfortunately, I told my wife she’s going to have to come down to visit in Florida,” Ortiz said on the eve of Friday’s Oaklawn opening. Trainer John Ortiz lives in Kentucky, but business again has his horses wintering in Arkansas, and for the first time Florida.

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