Occasionally, the voting by the panel of racing experts leads to a tie for Jockey of the Week. But this week, the riding achievements between Jeiron Barbosa, Juan J. Hernandez and Irad Ortiz, Jr. led the panel to a rare triple dead heat for Jockey of the Week honors June 15-21.
Barbosa was at his home track of Laurel Park on Saturday, where trainer Elizabeth Merryman gave him a leg up on Witty in the Ben's Cat Stakes. Off as the odds-on favorite in the scratched-down field of five, Witty raced in third up the backstretch. Barbosa inched the 7-year-old closer to the leaders on the turn taking the lead in the stretch for a half-length win in 1:08.77 for six furlongs.
"Liz told me before the race not to rush him," Barbosa said to Laurel publicity. "He's just a nice horse. At the three-eighths, I thought it was time to go. I asked my horse, and he did everything."
Barbosa also rides at Charles Town and made the trip to the West Virginia track for Saturday's night time card. He was back at Laurel for Sunday's 10-race card posting three winners for a total of eight wins for the week. The multiple leading rider at Laurel is currently in third place in the standings.
This week, Barbosa rides at Delaware, Colonial Downs, Charles Town, Laurel and Churchill Downs.
Jockey Juan J. Hernandez had the riding opportunity of a lifetime during the prestigious Royal Ascot meet in Great Britain with three mounts for trainer Wesley Ward.
Hernandez was aboard Bacio in the Palace of Holyrood House Handicap for 3-year-olds at five furlongs on turf, beating 26 rivals.
"He gave me a good jump and he took off from that," Hernandez said to the DRF. "They couldn't catch me. It was a beautiful feeling to cross the wire first. Now that I've done it, it was so unbelievable. I was so grateful to be there."
Hernandez will be back in Southern California this weekend for mounts at Los Alamitos.
Irad Ortiz, Jr. is well on his way to capturing his second leading rider title at Churchill Downs with 12 wins last week including the Chicago Stakes (G2) aboard odds-on favorite Eclatant for leading trainer and two-time Eclipse Award winner Brad Cox. Eclatant needed every inch of the 1,234.5-feet stretch to catch Foie Gras in the final strides in a final time of 1:22.62 for seven furlongs.
'She really started to get better this year," Ortiz said to Churchill publicity. "We had to wait awhile to get room in the stretch but once she was able to get clear she dug in hard to get it done."
Ortiz will be riding all week at Churchill as they close their Spring/Summer meet. Ortiz will then ride the Saratoga meet which opens July 3 in pursuit of his fifth consecutive, eighth overall leading rider title.
Other nominees for Jockey of the Week included Paco Lopez with two stakes wins at Monmouth, Jose Ortiz who won the Ohio Derby (G3) and Flavien Prat with a stakes win at Thistledown.
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