Trainer John Ortiz lives in Kentucky, but business again has his horses wintering in Arkansas and for the first time, Florida. He had previously split his stable between Arkansas and Kentucky in the winter.
"This year, unfortunately, I told my wife she's going to have to come down to visit in Florida," Ortiz said at Oaklawn Park Dec. 7. "I'm going to try to be three weeks on here and one week in Florida. Try to spread it out even, but focus on the track here, the races here, as much as we can."
Ortiz said he has roughly 30 horses under the care of younger brother Daniel at Palm Meadows Training Center in South Florida and some 25 at Oaklawn.
John Ortiz had two winners last month at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla.
Ortiz cited better weather as a major factor for the move, allowing his horses to maintain a more consistent training schedule.
"We're going to have all horses that we need to leg up get started in Florida," Ortiz said. "Have them ready for the end of the meet here."
Oaklawn's scheduled 66-day meeting concludes May 4.
Ortiz said one horse headed to Palm Meadows is WSS Racing's grade 1 winner Brightwork, among the country's top 2-year-old fillies of 2023. The daughter of Outwork won her first four starts this season at age 2, topped by the $300,000 Spinaway Stakes (G1) Sept. 3 at Saratoga Race Course, the first career grade 1 victory for Ortiz. He began training in 2016.
Ortiz said Brightwork is vacationing at WinStar Farm in Kentucky after finishing sixth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) Nov. 3 at Santa Anita Park. That followed a fifth-place finish in the Alcibiades Stakes (G1) at Keeneland. Those two races at 1 1/16 miles followed the seven-furlong Spinaway.
"We're definitely looking at our (Kentucky) Oaks options here, for sure," Ortiz said. "But time will tell."
Ortiz's Oaklawn contingent includes Top Gunner, who is entered in the $150,000 Ring The Bell Stakes, and Ice Orchid, the 7-2 program favorite for the $150,000 Mistletoe Stakes. Both races are Dec. 9.
Ortiz had a highly successful 2021-22 Oaklawn meeting, finishing with 27 victories to tie for fourth in the standings and amassing $2,670,871 in purses. He dipped to nine victories and $825,337 in purse earnings last season.
"Take the good with the bad," Ortiz said. "And you know, this is a game that's a big wave and you've got to ride the tide sometimes."
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
