“I tapped him on the shoulder when they started getting close to me and whoosh,” said Ortiz, Jr. to trainer Brian Lynch while trying to contain his excitement about Owen Almighty’s commanding front-running win in the Gr. III Tampa Bay Derby. For the week, Ortiz won a total of eight races leading the panel of racing experts to vote the five-time Eclipse Award winner Jockey of the Week for March 3-March 9.
The weekly honor recognizes jockeys for significant riding accomplishments and who are members of the Jockeys’ Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.
Ortiz, Jr. began the week at his winter base of Gulfstream Park with two wins on Wednesday for trainers Richard Sillaman in race seven and Kevin Rice in race eight. Ortiz recorded one win on Thursday for Brendan Walsh in the second race.
On Friday, Ortiz won race four for Oscar Gonzalez and race eight for Joe Orseno. Ortiz then traveled to Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday for their biggest day of the meet, Tampa Bay Derby Day. Ortiz started the day with a win for trainer Anthony Sciametta, Jr. in race six.
Trainer Brian Lynch gave a leg up to Ortiz as the regular pilot on Owen Almighty in the Gr. III Tampa Bay Derby. With an equipment change to a fuller blinker, Owen Almighty broke on top from post position one and made every pole a winning one opening up in mid-stretch over his half-dozen rivals to post a three and one-half length win in 1:42.30 for a mile and one-sixteenth.
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Dual Gr. 1 winner Chancer McPatrick trained by five-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown was 3 1/2 lengths behind in second with stablemate Hill Road in third and race favorite Patch Adams finishing in fourth after a slow start.
“We had some cheater blinkers on him last time and they were too little,” Ortiz explained to Tampa Bay publicity. “I talked to Brian and we decided to give him a little fuller blinkers today, and I think it helped. He was there for me when I asked him to go.”
Owen Almighty earned 50 points on the Kentucky Derby (G1) Leaderboard for a current total of 65. However, his connections have yet to commit to the Run for the Roses on May 3.
Back at Gulfstream on Sunday, Ortiz posted his eighth win of the week in race four for Carlos Narvaez.
Ortiz leads the standings at Gulfstream and will ride at Colonial Downs on Saturday, Virginia Derby Day. His mounts include Fondly in the Virginia Oaks for trainer Graham Motion and Getaway Car for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert in the Virginia Derby. The Oaks and the Derby each offer 50 points to the winner.
Other nominees for Jockey of the Week included Juan J. Hernandez who won the Gr. I Beholder Mile, Brian Hernandez, Jr. who won the Gr. II Azeri with 2024 Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna, Marcelino Pedroza, Jr. with two stakes wins at Fair Grounds and Flavien Prat with three stakes wins, one graded.
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