With three of the final six Grade One Stakes on the 2022 American racing calendar contested on the first weekend of December, the season and all its implications for championships and other meaningful significance has come into sharp focus. While the elite races that were run might not have been particularly vintage, with former $3,000 yearling Speaking Scout rushing late to win the Hollywood Derby and the retiring duo of Mind Control and Regal Glory prevailing, respectively, in the Cigar Mile Handicap and the Matriarch Stakes, the weekend results put the spotlight brightly on some of the human competitors.
Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr, who wound up a close third in the Cigar Mile on White Abarrio, nonetheless turned the weekend into another tour de force demonstrating that he is the man of the year in the American sport. Steering 4yo filly Dr B to a front running victory in the Grade 3 Go for Wand Stakes on the same Aqueduct programme as the Cigar Mile, Ortiz shattered a 15yo record for most Stakes wins by a rider in a season with what was his 77th trip to a Stakes winner’s circle in 2022.
The previous mark of 76 Stakes wins had been held by the late Garrett Gomez. Records are becoming routine for Ortiz. In early November, following a three win Breeders’ Cup performance, he eclipsed his own previous North American mark for single season earnings of $34.1 million, set in 2019, and his new all time best currently stands at $36,085,259.
The Go for Wand represented Ortiz’s 49th Graded Stakes win of the year, a total that puts him six behind retired Jerry Bailey’s record of 55 in a season that was accomplished in 2003. With just a few weeks left in the year, there might not be enough time for Ortiz to break Bailey’s Stakes record, but even if so, that would hardly take away from Ortiz’s incredible season.
Not only is he the North American leader by earnings, he also leads by wins with 305, marking the eighth consecutive year he has blown past the lofty 300 win mark. “This is great. Amazing feeling, it’s amazing just to be a part of the story,” said Ortiz, 30, after Dr B’s landmark victory. “I’m so happy just to be a part of this. I love this sport. Thanks to everyone who has supported me: trainers, owners and my agent Steve Rushing.”
Ortiz, who is 39 wins ahead of second placed rival Vincente del Cid in the races won category and about $6.7 million ahead of second ranked Flavien Prat by seasonal earnings, appears to be a lock for his fourth Eclipse Award after earlier winning that prize from 2018 through 2020. In some ways, it’s a bit unfortunate that Prat, who also has enjoyed a brilliant season, may not garner his own Eclipse. His early December weekend featured a six win feat at DelMar on 4 December, including the Grade 1 Matriarch win on Peter Brant’s Regal Glory for trainer Chad Brown.
Prat was the regular pilot for the unbeaten but now retired Flightline, the sensational winner of the Grade 1 Pacific Classic Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic and America’s likely Horse of the Year. Both Prat and Ortiz ride regularly for Brown, whose 2022 seasonal earnings stood at $30.82 million after the Matriarch, just about $300,000 shy of his personal record set in 2019 and approximately $1 million short of Brad Cox’s national record $31.83 million seasonal earnings achieved in 2021. Brown’s strength clearly comes from his two most prominent clients, Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables and Brant, who rank second and third, respectively, behind Godolphin among leading owners by earnings, with many of their runners having been selected at sales by Brown.
Trainer Todd Pletcher, who dispatched 6yo Mind Control to win the Cigar Mile, also has enjoyed an outstanding season, in fact, his best ever with $29.77 million in earnings. Pletcher’s top runners were led by Shadwell’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner and likely repeat champion Malathaat; Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal; Grade One winner Life Is Good, and expected juvenile champion Forte.
Sadly for Pletcher, all but Forte have been retired, so 2023 will be a rebuilding year for his barn. Perhaps the biggest question remaining in regards to the American season is who will be the 3yo male champion, and it appears that we will have to wait for the Malibu Stakes, one of three Grade One races set for 26 December at Santa Anita Park, to have all the information that might be needed to answer that question.
A pair of 3yo colts by Gun Runner, Amr Zedan’s Taiba and Al Gold’s Cyberknife, lead their generation with two Grade One victories apiece in 2022, although some pundits seem to prefer Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Epicenter, who won just the Grade 1 Travers Stakes but placed in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes prior to suffering a career ending injury in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Epicenter will stand at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud, it was announced recently, and Cyberknife is set to begin stud duty at Spendthrift Farm in 2023 but is first aiming for the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes in January.
Meanwhile, Taiba looks toward the Malibu prior to probably joining his Bob Baffert-trained stablemate and Country Grammer, partly owned by Zedan, in heading to the Middle East and possible starts in the Saudi and Dubai World Cups.
MICHELE MACDONALD
