Owner Mike Repole, who grew up in Queens and lives on Long Island, says it would be like Christmas for him if he could win the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) with either of his two 3-year-olds in the race, Mo Donegal or the filly Nest.
Yet in terms of geographical proximity, the best hometown connection to the June 11 Belmont Stakes comes via Kentucky in John Ortiz, who trains Belmont starter Barber Road.
While the 36-year-old Ortiz has a stable of about 75 horses in the Bluegrass State, Belmont Park was his home-a-few-blocks-from-his-home as he grew up in Elmont, N.Y., and spent many a day at the picturesque racetrack as his father, Carlos Ortiz, worked as a rider for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
"Running a horse in the Belmont Stakes has been a lifetime goal," said Ortiz, who is in the midst of his initial Triple Crown campaign. "Growing up in Elmont, a few blocks from the stable gate, I've seen this race all my life. For me, it's very important to be back home in a town where I grew up and that made me the person I am. To come full circle in my life and run a horse in New York's biggest race is an amazing feeling for me."
Ortiz was scheduled to arrive at Belmont June 8 and, after checking in on Barber Road, he already has his next stop planned out.
"I'm going to King Umberto," Ortiz said about the popular Elmont restaurant about a mile from Belmont Park. "I have missed all of that good Italian food in my hometown."
Running in the Belmont Stakes will provide Ortiz ample time to reflect on his youth in Elmont. Born in Colombia, he moved to New York when he was 5 and, through his dad's work as a jockey and exercise rider, Belmont Park became as familiar to him as the nearby playgrounds. He attended Gotham Avenue School as a child and as a teen moved on to Elmont Memorial High School. There were memorable trips to Coney Island and Jones Beach, and when the pressures of life mounted as a young adult, Ortiz would hop in his car and head east—all the way east.
"When things got to me I would drive to Montauk Point," Ortiz said about the spot at the eastern end of Long Island's South Shore. "I would go out to the lighthouse and just chill out. I'd have lunch or dinner and then head home with a clear head."
Ortiz's involvement in racing began with mucking stalls for Mott and in 2011 he left to embark on a career that culminated with him taking out his trainer's license in 2016. Since then, he has won 249 races with $10.4 million in earnings and a trio of grade 3 stakes along the way.
WSS Racing's Barber Road gave life to Ortiz's dream of being a part of the Belmont Stakes and the final leg of the Triple Crown earlier this year when he finished a good second in the Jan. 1 Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
"Once we saw him in the Smarty Jones, after the way he galloped out, we felt he would be a horse that would take us to the Triple Crown and all the way to the Belmont," Ortiz said.
After that, while the late-running Barber Road is winless in five starts as a 3-year-old, he finished second in the Southwest Stakes (G3), third in the Rebel Stakes (G2), and second in the Arkansas Derby (G1) to earn a spot in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) with 58 qualifying points.
Barber Road broke slowly and was 20th and last after the opening quarter-mile in the Run for the Roses. Though he avoided the brutal early pace, the son of Race Day was forced to lose considerable ground while rallying about five wide on the final turn and swinging 11 wide in the stretch while finishing sixth.
Since then, Ortiz has been pleased with the way Barber Road has bounced back from the first time he was unplaced since his career debut at 2.
"He came out of the Kentucky Derby more mature physically. There's more cut in his body. He doesn't look so soft and young," Ortiz said about a gray colt who received his early training from his dad, Carlos Ortiz. "He's starting to develop into a real nice horse and looks amazing. He doesn't do a lot in the mornings but he comes out in the afternoons and plays hard. I couldn't ask for more from a horse."
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After having early fractions of :21.78 and :45.36 reeled off in front of him in the Kentucky Derby, Barber Road and new jockey Joel Rosario will face a 180-degree difference in pace Saturday with 2-1 morning-line favorite We the People the lone speed on paper in the 1 1/2-mile Test of the Champion. Though the son of the Southern Image mare Encounter flashed some early speed in sprints as a 2-year-old, in his last four starts, all at 1 1/16 miles or more, he has been no better than eighth after the opening quarter-mile.
"We know there's not a lot of pace, so he just has to get more involved coming out of the gate. He kinda plopped out of the gate in the Derby but we didn't mind because we expected a hot pace," said Ortiz, who will run Barber Road without blinkers Saturday. "He worked out of the gate last week (five furlongs in 1:00.80 June 4 at Churchill Downs) for a little sharpening so he comes out running. You need the right communication with him. He'll listen to you if you urge him."
Bred by Susan Forrester and Judy Curry and bought for a mere $15,000 by Long Lick Bloodstock from Forrester's consignment at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, Barber Road has won just two of nine starts. Yet four seconds and a third in stakes company has pushed his career earnings to a nifty $650,720 for Ortiz and owner Bill Simon, a former CEO of Walmart. All those close finishes and a belief the 3-year-old can handle the 1 1/2-mile distance has also fueled Ortiz's hopes that his colt could finally post a breakthrough victory at the most opportune of times.
Barber Road's morning-line price of 10-1 paints him as a longshot in the $1.5 million Belmont, after a former claimer by the name of Rich Strike won the Kentucky Derby at 80-1 odds and is a 7-2 shot in the Belmont, dismissing a longshot may not be the wisest thing to do during this soon-to-be-completed Triple Crown season. Barber Road also has the additional similarity of breaking his maiden in a $30,000 claimer, just like Rich Strike. Though much to Ortiz's relief, no one claimed him that fateful day at Keeneland.
"Barber Road has been one of the most enjoyable and easiest rides for me to experience," Ortiz said. "For my first time being involved in Triple Crown races, he's made it so easy for me. It would mean the world to me to win the Belmont, but the horse is the one who deserves the win. He always tries. It would just be the icing on the cake to do it in my hometown."
And you can be certain, if there's a need for some cake after the Belmont Stakes, hometown hero John Ortiz will know where to find it.
