Jose Ortiz and Chad Brown won titles at the Belmont Park meeting which concluded on Sunday. (Photo credit: Bigstock.com)
The Belmont Park Spring/Summer meeting came to a close on Sunday with Chad Brown and Jose Ortiz taking the titles for top trainer and jockey respectively.
Brown won 38 races from his 132 starters, easily besting Todd Pletcher, who finished second in the trainer standings with 25 winners from 144 starters. Brown won at a 29% clip at the meeting and amassed purses earnings of $4,345,593. Of his starters, 60% landing in the money.
Brown’s victories included the Man o’ War (G1) with Wake Forest, the Woodford Reserve Manhattan (G1) with Flintshire, the New York (G2) with Dacita and the Sheepshead Bay (G2) with Sea Calisi.
Linda Rice had a solid meeting, landing third in the standings with 22 winners from 87 starters, her 25% win clip second only to Brown among the top dozen trainers at the meeting.
Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito had the distinction of the most starters without a victory at the meeting, going 0 for 45.
Jose Ortiz won 79 races from his 369 mounts at the meeting and won his third straight jockey title on the circuit. His mounts earned purses of $5,712,176.
Among his wins were the Mother Goose (G1) on Off the Tracks, the Peter Pan (G2) with Unified, the Sheepshead Bay (G2) on Sea Calisi and the Jaipur (G3) with Pure Sensation.
“I feel great. It’s really a good accomplishment to win this meet,” said Ortiz “It’s a tough meet because it’s the best. I’ve been blessed to keep myself healthy and I ride for a lot of good trainers and they gave me opportunities. I feel great about keeping the momentum going as we go up to Saratoga.”
His brother Irad was second in the jockey standings with 57 winners while Manuel Franco was third with 56 winners.
Chester and Mary Broman, Sr. and Michael Dubb each had 11 winners to top the owner standings.
Racing action moves upstate to Saratoga Race Course on Friday for the 40-day summer meet, featuring 69 stakes worth a record $18.725 million and highlighted by the Grade 1, $1.25 million Whitney on August 6 and the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers on August 27. First race post time Friday is 1 p.m.
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