He’s the one who names me on those horses and the trainers and owners, they give me the opportunity every time I show up here. “Honestly, I ride all my horses very positive,” he said. The juicy 8-1 price in a short field did not take away from Ortiz’s optimism. After that I was just biding my time and kicked him out down the stretch and he responded really well.” I tried to let him relax, settle a little bit, and he did come back to me on the backside. “There Goes Harvard was fighting a little bit with me going into the first turn, they went a little fast. There Goes Harvard, last after the first quarter-mile, had moved into fourth by the half-mile pole and was second, taking dead aim on Defunded, at the head of the stretch. Spielberg, longest shot in the field at 19-1, brought up the rear, 10 lengths behind Stilleto Boy. It was another three-quarters of a length back to 3-2 shot Stilleto Boy. Defunded, third choice in the wagering at 5-1 with Abel Cedillo aboard, held second by 3 1/4 lengths over even-money favorite Royal Ship. It was his fourth lifetime win and he more than doubled his earnings ($455,090) with the first-place check for $240,000.įinal time for the mile and a quarter was 2:02.66 after Defunded carved out rapid fractions of 22.76, 46.13 and 1:10.99 but couldn’t hold off the hard-charging There Goes Harvard. The second-longest shot in the five-horse field, There Goes Harvard collared pacesetter Defunded in the final sixteenth of a mile and drew off to a one-length victory. “The horse is doing well and sometimes you just have to take a chance.” “It was a short field, and sometimes you just gotta take a shot,” McCarthy said. He finished second in his only stakes before Monday, finishing second in the Ellis Park Derby last summer in Kentucky. I enjoy it.”There Goes Harvard, a 4-year-old Will Take Charge colt, was making his graded-stakes debut in his 12th career start. The victory was Ortiz’s first in the Gold Cup and gave trainer Michael McCarthy his first in the historic race that was run at Hollywood Park before the track closed up shop in 2013. He won four of the afternoon’s first five races and finished second in the race he didn’t win. The 29-year-old native of Puerto Rico flew to Southern California from New York after Sunday’s card at Belmont Park and made himself at home in warm and sunny Southern California.Ī winner of three Eclipse Awards as the nation’s top jockey (2018-20), Ortiz won two of the three Grade I stakes Monday at Santa Anita, including the $400,000 Hollywood Gold Cup aboard 8-1 shot There Goes Harvard.
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