Ortiz earns Jockey of the Week after graded stakes sweep

Irad Ortiz Jr. turned a strong spring meet into a statement week, winning graded stakes at Keeneland and Oaklawn Park to earn Jockey of the Week honors for April 13-19 and finish with 12 victories overall.

The run began at Keeneland, where Ortiz kept piling up wins across the card and delivered the key graded score aboard Alpine Princess in the Baird Doubledogdare Stakes (G2T). The Brad Cox trainee was sent forward and then surged past Eunomia in the final stages, getting up by a neck in 1:44.09 for 1 1/16 miles. The victory came in the 31st running of the $400,000 race and pushed Alpine Princess into millionaire status. Flavien Prat, who rode runner-up Eunomia, said after the race, "The winner got through on the rail."

That Keeneland form was not a one-off. Ortiz posted multiple-win days on Wednesday and Thursday and then opened Friday with three more victories, showing the kind of sustained meet pressure that separates a hot rider from a brief flurry. Through April 19, he led the Keeneland standings, a position that keeps him in the hunt for a third riding title there after winning his first in 2024.

Ortiz then crossed into Arkansas and added the bigger headline at Oaklawn Park aboard White Abarrio in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2). The 7-year-old gray broke on top, tracked the early pace, angled off the rail and powered clear to win by two lengths in 1:47.49 for 1 1/8 miles. Oaklawn called the $1.25 million race one of the most anticipated in its 121-year history, and White Abarrio delivered with a performance that held off reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty and 2025 Preakness winner Journalism.

The week reinforced how Ortiz’s spring success is stacking up on the biggest stages. His recent wins have come on different surfaces and with different types of mounts, from Alpine Princess’s tactical turf move at Keeneland to White Abarrio’s older-horse dirt statement at Oaklawn. That versatility matters now, with Ortiz also expected to ride Renegade in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, another assignment that keeps him at the center of the season’s biggest races. A five-time Eclipse Award winner, the Puerto Rican-born rider has built a North American résumé that already includes more than $378.7 million in earnings, 4,428 wins as of Jan. 7, 2026, and a milestone 4,000th victory at Keeneland in October 2024.