![]() ![]() ![]() He said he could return at Churchill Downs or Belmont Park, depending upon which track opens first. Ortiz, the 2017 Eclipse Award-winning rider, is also using this time to prepare for a return to riding. We're also working on getting the permits we need to build our house on this land." "I'm outside all the time, and I'm really enjoying it. Cut the grass, plant some oak trees, fix fences," Ortiz said by phone April 17. But with the Keeneland meet canceled and a delayed opening at Belmont Park – to a date yet to be determined – Ortiz is enjoying his new role as a gentleman farmer. ![]() If these were normal times, Ortiz would be finishing up Keeneland's spring meet and then moving his tack to New York for Belmont Park's spring stand. This decision came at the same time COVID-19 began its rage in the United States, and Ortiz thought it was best for him and Taylor and their two young children, Leilani and Derek Jose, to decamp to the quiet environs of Ocala. After three days of competing, however, Ortiz's wrist began nagging him, and he decided it needed more time to heal. 22 in a post parade accident at Gulfstream Park and was sidelined until March 14. Taylor's father, Wayne, and two brothers, Adam and Kevin, are also trainers, as was her late grandfather, Clyde Rice, the patriarch of this racing dynasty. Her aunt, Linda Rice, is one of New York's leading trainers. Taylor Rice, a former jockey, is part of the Rice family's long lineage of horsemen and horsewomen. Ortiz hasn't ridden in a race since March 18 and has been in Ocala ever since, living with his wife's family, who are among the heart and soul of Ocala's Thoroughbred community. We’ll participate when our horses fit that category.Jose and Oscar Performance. I didn’t see a huge need for it, but maybe it’ll turn into a good thing, we’ll see. I like mile-and-an-eighth races, so we’ve had a lot of success there. “But as far as the race, the way it unfolded, looked like a pretty fair race. It seemed kind of slow for these type of fillies. ”It was interesting, the fractions seemed pretty slow and I’m wondering how accurate the time was. “I thought the race went smoothly,” Pletcher said. They were positioned in the seven outside stalls in the 12-stall starting gate. Trainer Todd Pletcher had three horses, including Goddess of Fire, in the Wilton, which scratched down from nine to seven starters. I liked the way my horse did it and fell into the race. We were trying to figure out what was best for her and her running style, because she had been on the chase from a bad break or hitting the gate, so it was nice to see her settle, she came with her run and she persevered to the wire.” “On paper, some of the speed horses had scratched out of the race. So for my horses running - not Tarabi, necessarily - it’s not something that we’re not used to. “We run a lot at Ellis Park, and it’s similar to the chute at Ellis. Perhaps DeVaux and jockey Javier Castellano were a little biased because they won the race, but new chute generally seemed to be well received. There had been some uncertainty about how the horses would handle the gap to their left as they left the mile chute and ran a tangent to the inside rail on the clubhouse turn. Some jockeys were given the opportunity to test the new Wilson Chute on Tuesday, but on Thursday it was the real deal, and the Cherie DeVaux-trained Tarabi lived up to her 6-5 favoritism in the betting by beating Goddess of Fire by three-quarters of a length. ![]() She came to the top of the stretch and kind of waited a little for the other one. “She tried,” Saez said of Summer Promise. When I asked her at the quarter pole, she did it.” “From the one post, she overcame everything and got there on time. “We kind of thought the added distance today wouldn’t be an issue at all, and it wasn’t.” “I think she’ll go longer - I don’t think that will be an issue at all,” she said. Wheeler said Just Cindy, who will ship back to Kenneally’s barn in Kentucky on Friday, should appreciate even more stretch-out in distance. Yearlings out of the first crop of Justify were a hot commodity at the Keeneland September Sale, but Just Cindy wasn’t one of them.īred and consigned by Clarkland Farm, she did not meet her reserve and returned to Clarkland. “Coming from Churchill, not having a work here and just dropping in on this race, I thought that her class would let her handle that, but in hindsight, I think I’d like to get her a little tighter.” I could tell from her stride and everything. “She had a chance to win it there at the sixteenth pole, and she came up a little short. “I was a little disappointed in that I thought she was tighter than that,” Lukas said. ![]()
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