Ortiz, Sharp, Godolphin Take Fair Grounds Titles

[Wandering Eyes]

In his first season in New Orleans, jockey Jose Ortiz was the runaway winner of the jockeys' premiership at the Fair Grounds, while Joe Sharp and Godolphin took home honors as leading trainer and owner, respectively.

Ortiz rode the winners of 98 races during the meet, the most recorded by any jockey since Florent Geroux accumulated the same number of winners during the 2016-2017 season. Ortiz finished some 43 winner clear of Jareth Loveberry, with Ben Curtis in third on 49 winners.

“I've had huge support from the trainers and owners here in Louisiana and I really appreciate it,” said Ortiz, who put an exclamation point on the season with five winners on closing day Mar. 23. “I want to thank all of them, and especially everyone working on the backside. Without all of them, it's impossible to do it.

“[Agent] Steve Rushing did such a nice job with my book,” Ortiz said. “I'm very thankful to have him as my agent. Hopefully I'll be back next year. We'll sit down and figure it out, but I don't see why not.”

Sharp recorded 40 winners during the season–nine during the closing week alone–good for a 26% strike rate, while besting trainer Brad Cox on 31 victories. Shane Wilson was third with 27 winners, 17 of those coming in the final two months.

“In some of the years it didn't seem like the right thing to push for (the title), but this year with how we were sitting a month out, we wanted to do it,” Sharp said. “Our team works hard, and all my assistants work their butts off. Mid-meet I started to feel an obligation (to win the title) for them. They were watching closely and I saw how engaged they were.”

Steve Asmussen saddled 22 winners at the meet, among them GII Risen Star Stakes winner Magnitude (Not This Time) and GII Louisiana Derby hero Tiztastic (Tiz the Law), which helped to make him the leading trainer by earnings with just shy of $2.4 million.

Good Cheer (Medaglia d'Oro) cemented her status as the leading candidate for the GI Kentucky Oaks with wins in the GII Rachel Alexandra Stakes and GII Fair Grounds Oaks, and that helped carry Godolphin to a meet-best 11 winners, three better than Allied Racing Stable, Earl Hernandez, Keith Hernandez and John Duvielh and Keith Plaisance on eight wins.

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