John Ortiz

Tickets, please! Keeneland's fall meet has the turnstiles primed Friday and that means the featured GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes will fill the apron on what promises to be massive weekend with some 30 graded races across North America--half of which have Breeders' Cup implications. The signature top-level race at the site of the Old Keene Farm was named for a foundational mare who was bred at Hal Price Headley's Beaumont--where modern-day Mill Ridge resides. Alcibiades won the 1930 Kentucky Oaks for Headley, who was one the Keeneland Association's founders and...

Brightwork (Outwork), who returned from a 10-month layoff to win the GIII Prioress Stakes at Saratoga Saturday, could make her next start in the GII Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland Oct. 19, if all goes well, according to trainer John Ortiz. "We'll let her tell us where to go next," Ortiz said. "This is the biggest effort I've seen her lay out in the afternoon--she was running against 3-year-olds that have been running and I want to make sure she comes out of it in good shape and has enough...

Bill and Tammy Simon's WSS Racing celebrated with trainer John Ortiz and his team after Brightwork's (Outwork) hard-fought win in the 77th running of the GIII Prioress Stakes at Saratoga on Saturday. The 3-year-old filly may have scratched after flipping in the paddock before the kickoff of her 3-year-old campaign in the GI Test Stakes this summer, but she bounced back and proved her affinity for the Spa's main track. Last summer as a juvenile, the filly scooped up the GIII Adirondack Stakes and then grabbed the GI Spinaway Stakes....

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...

Clearly ready for her unveiling, it was Quietside (Malibu Moon--Benner Island, by Speightstown) who used her breakaway ability to envelop a field of juveniles and garner 'TDN Rising Star' honors after the opener at Saratoga on Sunday. Sent on her way as a 7-2 shot here, the homebred initially vied for the lead up the backstretch between Insight runner First Class Lady (Uncle Mo) and Ivory and Ebony (Spun to Run). Well-handled by Luis Saez, Quietside backed off and allowed the pacesetters to trade blows. The dark bay was then...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Two and a half months after winning the GI Kentucky Derby as co-breeders and co-owners of long shot Mystik Dan (Goldencents), Four G Racing picked up its first victory at Saratoga Race Course Sunday with another runner overlooked by handicappers. With a powerful run through the stretch under John Velazquez, Reining Flowers (Midnight Storm) completed a rally from well off the pace to win the sixth race, a $100,000 maiden special weight contest for 2-year-old fillies, by a length over Good Long Cry (Long on Value). Four G's...

SARATOGA SPINGS, N.Y. - It's 'Post Time' for the 97th running of the $1-million GI Whitney Stakes. Well, actually, the race is still a week away, but if you are trainer Brittany Russell, you're darn right it's Post Time. As in Post Time (Frosted), the 4-year-old colt that will make a return trip to Saratoga Race Course. Last month, Post Time, owned by Hillwood Stable, LLC, won the race for second in the GI Metropolitan Handicap. Post Time beat Hoist the Gold (Mineshaft) by a neck. No one was going...

MyRacehorse's Seize the Grey (Arrogate) recorded his final major work Tuesday ahead of an intended date in the GII Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga this weekend. Over Oklahoma's training track rated 'wet-fast,' the grey covered a half mile in :47.99. The GI Preakness Stakes winner shipped to Churchill Downs following a seventh-place finish in the GI Belmont Stakes June 8 before returning to the Spa earlier this month. "He was very strong and I'm very pleased with him," said Lukas. "I told the rider to go :47 and a fifth,...

With the 40th Breeders' Cup World Championships less than two weeks away, a number of hopefuls worked Saturday morning at Keeneland as they make their final preparations before shipping to Santa Anita. Trainer John Ortiz took GISW Brightwork (Outwork) out for a spin on Saturday with William Simon, owner of WSS Racing, on hand as the bay filly points towards the GI NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 3. Working with 4 G Racing's GSP Crown Imperial (Classic Empire), a candidate for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf also...

The fall isn't really, The Fall, until Keeneland arrives. Well, get your steaming pot of burgoo ready, because it's here. Scheduled for Friday, Oct. 6, the meet's opening day at the Old Keene Farm is upon us and the 10-race card includes a trio of graded stakes which all have Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' implications. Leading off is the GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. for 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs on the Main Track. Suitors for the GI Breeders' Cup Qatar Racing Sprint include MSW Bango...

WSS Racing's undefeated Brightwork (Outwork) completed her major preparations for next Friday's GI Darley Alcibiades by working a half-mile in :48.60 over a fast track Friday morning. With Ricardo Santana Jr. aboard, Brightwork produced fractions of :24.60, :48.60 and galloped out 5 furlongs in 1:01.40. Last Friday here, Brightwork produced a best-of-20 half-mile in :47. "That was very perfect, and I am grateful that Ricardo made the drive over from Louisville both times to work her," trainer John Ortiz said. "Last week was a good drill for speed, and this...

Crown Imperial (f, 2, Classic Empire--Mi Fiori, by Congrats), beaten just a nose by the streaking Amidst Waves (Midshipman) in Saratoga's Bolton Landing S. Aug. 20, delivered a 13-1 upset in Wednesday's $500,000 Pepsi Untapable S. at Kentucky Downs. She was outsprinted in eighth through scorching early fractions of :20.79 and :44.32, and, after diving toward an inviting opening toward the inside beneath Ricardo Santana, Jr. in the stretch, came alive to get the money by 1 1/4 lengths. Copper Em (Copper Bullet) was second; Buttercream Babe (Twirling Candy) was...