Jon Forbes
NYRA

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Apprentice Irad Ortiz, Jr. has a long way to go if he wants to emulate famous Puerto Rican jockeys Eddie Belmonte, Angel Cordero, Jr., and John Velazquez, but winning 70 races from 630 mounts on The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) circuit in 2011 was a pretty good start.

Originally from Trujillo Alto in Puerto Rico, Ortiz is a graduate of that country’s Escuela Vocacional Hípica, a school for prospective jockeys.…

Ed Gray
Gulfstream Park      

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jose Lezcano didn’t need to wait for more than a single race to achieve success at GulfstreamPark, having won aboard his very first mount in the U.S. at the world class thoroughbred meeting in April 2004.

The Panama native has become a frequent visitor to GulfstreamPark’s winner’s circle over the years while joining the ranks of the country’s riding elite. Coming off a career 2011 campaign, during which he rode champion…

(Edited Fair Grounds report)

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Four new members have been elected to the Fair Grounds Hall of Fame: Dapper Delegate, the 1965 Louisiana Derby winner; Bobby Frankel, the only trainer to have won all four of Fair Grounds’ marquee season-ending stakes races; J.R. Smith Sr., trainer of several Fair Ground stakes winners, including 1967 Louisiana Derby hero Ask the Fare; and Al Stall Jr., conditioner of more than a dozen Fair Grounds stakes winners and twice the…

Margo Flynn
Tampa Bay Downs

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Jockeys Leandro Goncalves, Ronnie Allen, Jr. and Rosemary Homeister, Jr., have put some distance between themselves and their pursuers in the Tampa Bay Downs jockey standings through the first quarter of the 2011-12 Thoroughbred meeting.

Goncalves, who rode four winners on Sunday’s card, added one Wednesday in the fourth race aboard the Robert O’Connor II-trained colt Adaro to increase his meet-leading total to 28.

Last year’s track riding champion, Allen, picked…

Tracksideview.com

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters named Bill Mott as the 2011 Eclipse Award Trainer of the Year and Ramon Dominguez as Jockey of the Year Monday at the 41st annual Eclipse Awards at the Beverly Wilshire, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Kyle Frey was named the Eclipse Award Apprentice Jockey of the Year.

Mott’s award was his third for trainer and Dominguez picked up his second top jockey award, repeating…

NYRA release

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Jackie Davis was released from North Shore University Hospital early Monday morning after X-rays and scans came back negative following a spill Sunday after the conclusion of the ninth race at Aqueduct Racetrack. Ryan Curatolo, also involved in the incident, walked off the track and appeared uninjured.

“Her initial X-rays were negative, but she told the doctors she was still in pain, so they did a CT scan, and that was also negative,”…

(Edited Gulfstream Park report)

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockey Abigail Fuller, who rode with great success during the 1980s and 1990s, rode her first winner at Gulfstream Park Sunday aboard Rule Number Six in the second race.

The 52-year-old veteran rider, who returned to riding last summer at Calder Race Course, is best known for riding her father Peter Fuller’s Mom’s Command to victory in the 1985 New York Filly Triple Crown and the Alabama Stakes (G1). Mom’s Command, the…

Ashley Herriman
NYRA/Aqueduct Racetrack

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Alan Garcia was released from North Shore University Hospital Saturday afternoon after tests came back negative following a spill in the fourth race at Aqueduct Racetrack. Pending final clearance from NYRA First Aid, he is likely to ride Sunday as scheduled.

Junior Alvarado, also involved in the spill, was in stable condition at North Shore on Saturday evening awaiting results of a CT scan of his abdomen.

In the race,…

Jenny Kellner
NYRA/Aqueduct Racetrack

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When Ryan Curatolo went to Florida in 2010 to join his vacationing father, his resume consisted of a diploma from a jockey school near Chantilly and two last-place finishes over the course of a year in his native France.

“I thought, ‘If I go to Florida and I ride one horse per week, that would be nice,’” recalled Curatolo recently as he sat outside the jockey’s quarters at Aqueduct Racetrack. “There’s…

(Edited Maryland Jockey Club report)

LAUREL, Md. – The Maryland Jockey Club will make presentations to jockey Sheldon Russell and trainer Dane Kobiskie between races Saturday afternoon for finishing atop the standings at Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course a year ago.

Russell, who will be honored before the fifth race, rode 126 winners at the major Maryland tracks in 2011 and captured all three meet titles (Laurel winter, Pimlico spring and Laurel fall).

Kobiskie will be honored one race…