Ortiz Trades Horse Training for Family, New Profession

John Ortiz will retire in early October from training racehorses, desiring to spend more time with his family in Kentucky and saying he has fulfilled his career goals. Ortiz, 40, is in the process of winding down operations of his stable, with about 20 horses still in his Keeneland barn as of Sept. 25. He expects most of his horses to join other trainers by the end of the month, with some horses remaining with him into October. Some of his final starters will be 4 G Racing's Reining Flowers, who competes in the 11th race Sept. 26 at Churchill Downs, and Dream Big Racing's Dazzling Move in the Oct. 3 Twixt Stakes at Laurel Park. His decision to step away from training has been about a year in the making, Ortiz said, following discussions he had last fall with his wife, Crystal. He said the travel and time away from home while training in multiple states—he would race primarily during the winter and spring at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas—meant months away from Crystal and their children: Xavier, 14, and Jayden, 10. "Being at home is probably the No. 1 thing that I want right now in life," he said. He stopped accepting new clients in March as he began reducing his stable. In past years, he trained as many as 65 to 75 horses. Ortiz chose not to pursue racing during the winter months at Turfway Park, which could have allowed for a year-round presence in Kentucky. He and his younger brother, Daniel, who assisted him, have already begun new professions working as insurance adjusters for Shelter Insurance. "We actually can have weekends and vacation time and still get paid, and I thought that was a great selling point," Ortiz quipped, a comparison to the seven-day lifestyle and long hours of training horses. His employees have begun moving on to work for other trainers. Mentioning assistant Lindsey Reynolds and others from his stable, he thanked them for their hard work and the opportunities owners such as Bill Simon, Hootie Moore, Brent Gasaway, John Ed Anthony, and John Wade provided his stable. "I couldn't be here without them," he said. Ortiz said no other factors caused him to shift careers, not even the challenges of contesting six pending controlled medication positives for dexamethasone found in the test samples of his horses in November and December of last year. In all likelihood, Ortiz faces only a $500 fine and 1.5 penalty points, though his owners could be affected by reduced purse earnings from disqualifications. Ortiz said he could have paid a fine to settle those cases, but is fighting those pending violations because he has "no wrongdoing," and "I run my barn with great integrity." Ortiz said his career highlights included having a starter in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), the Kentucky Derby (G1), and the Kentucky Oaks (G1), winning a grade 1 race, and capturing a training title at Ellis Park. He also enjoyed successful meets at Keeneland, Churchill Downs, and Saratoga Race Course, in addition to accomplishments at Oaklawn Park and Horseshoe Indianapolis. Brightwork, owned by Bill Simon's WSS Racing, provided him with some of those stakes achievements. The filly won her first four starts as a 2-year-old in 2023, including the Adirondack Stakes (G3) and Spinaway Stakes (G1) at Saratoga. After a sixth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) in 2023 at Santa Anita Park, Ortiz returned her to sprints, and she added the Prioress Stakes (G3) in 2024 at Saratoga. She earned $690,989. Quietside, owned and bred by John Ed Anthony's Shortleaf Stable, gave Ortiz more success in 2025, winning the Honeybee Stakes (G3) and Fantasy Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park on her way to a sixth-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. She finished her career with $1,051,575 in earnings. WSS Racing's Barber Road brought Ortiz to the 2022 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, where he finished sixth. The popular runner finished in the money in all four of Oaklawn's Derby preps, including a runner-up finish in the Arkansas Derby (G1). He retired with earnings of $795,933. He became a pony in the Ortiz stable after his racing days. Ortiz's career also included graded stakes victories by Zulu Alpha in the 2018 Sycamore Stakes (G3T), Mr Dumas in the 2019 Commonwealth Turf Stakes (G3T), and Honey Bunny in the 2019 Winning Colors Stakes (G3). With just a couple of planned starters still to run, he has 429 victories from 2,770 starts and $25,013,639 in purse earnings. The trainer's finest year came in 2022, when he won 66 races and his stable earned $5,247,493. Ortiz entered racing as a teenager, following his father, Colombian jockey Carlos Ortiz, into horse racing. He began working as a hotwalker for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott before gaining experience with Graham Motion and Barclay Tagg, and later becoming Kellyn Gorder's head assistant. "I've carried my dad's legacy as far as I could take it, while building my own," he said. "It's been a dream come true."