Daniel Ortiz

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.--While it wasn't the scenario he expected at the beginning of the month, trainer John Ortiz will be busy late Saturday afternoon saddling the fillies Brightwork (Outwork) and 'TDN Rising Star' Quietside (Malibu Moon) in consecutive stakes at Saratoga Race Course. First up will be WSS Racing's Brightwork in the GIII $200,000 Prioress Stakes, scheduled for 5:04 p.m. ET. Immediately after the six-furlong Prioress, Ortiz will scoot back to the paddock to prepare Shortleaf Stable's Quietside in the $300,000 GI Spinaway Stakes, which Brightwork won last year. When...

John Ortiz draws the analogy of playing cards to what it feels like going into a stakes race at Saratoga. Everyone keeps their hand close and you never can tell who might be bluffing. But the trainer of Brightwork (Outwork) may have let his poker face slip when he spoke with Irad Ortiz Jr. in the paddock ahead of the GIII Adirondack S. on Sunday. "I walked in there confident and with a smile," Ortiz shared. "Irad had worked her and I said, 'You know what you've got and I...