**Please see the attached photo of Jose Ortiz (left) and Irad Ortiz (right) in the paddock at Aqueduct Racetrack**
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Contact: Jon Forbes
ORTIZ BROTHERS WIN FIRST 7 RACES ON SUNDAY'S CARD AT AQUEDUCT
Through Sunday's nine-race card, Jose leads the Aqueduct inner track standings with 40 wins, seven more than his older brother, who is second.
Jose, 19, captured race 1 with Bellamy ($3.60), race 2 with Rocket Hero ($9.50), and race 3 with Unbridled Logic ($4.50) before his 20-year-old brother took over.
"We did good, but we rode good horses today," said Jose. "We got lucky, thank God, and the horses won."
Irad annexed race 4 with Now and Then ($3.70), race 5 with Bail Out the Banks ($4.40), race 6 Nothing But Air ($9.80), and race 7 with Brigand ($3.40).
Race 7 was the $75,000 Turnofthecentury, a one-mile stakes race for New York-breds 4-year-olds and up.
"I had a lot of horse," said Irad of Brgiand's performance in the Turnofthecentury. "Tonja [Terranova, assistant to winning trainer Bob Baffert] did a good job with the horse. I broke good out of there, like Tonja told me to do. I put him in front, and he relaxed and had a comfortable trip. [Today] has been a good experience for [me and my brother]. We try in every race, and today we got good horses."
Jose finished last of three in race 8 aboard Take Down Two and was sixth in race 9. Irad was without a mount in races 8 and 9.
The Ortiz brothers won three races apiece on Saturday, with Irad taking the featured event, the $75,000 Evening Attire, aboard Last Gunfighter.
-30-
