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 previous mark of 76 Stakes wins had been held by the late Garrett Gomez. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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