I am surprised we don’t see more alterations in racing, but yesterday at Gulfstream Park in the United States, we saw a beauty.
Watch 📺👇Champion rider Irad Ortiz Jr is fighting mad and shows it with Paco Lopez
Both hoops are very competitive and Lopez has a history of being a little reckless when he rides, but after race 4 on the weekend, Ortiz, who won the race on Known Agenda, just lost it.
Both riders have been placed on probation for the remainder of the meet and told NOT to have any more altercations, and Ortiz has been fined $1000.
His opening right hand is a beauty and catches Paco flush.
Ortiz is a model of brilliance in the US. He has won the coveted Eclipse Award on three occasions.
As they dismounted the war of words began and it spilled over after the pair weighed in.
In the steward’s room, Paco protested against Irad checking him on the home turn and somehow won the protest.
It was a ridiculous steward’s decision and wouldn’t stand up in Australia under the Cat 1 rules of racing. Ortiz won the race by 6 lengths. If anything he should have been suspended for careless riding but it didn’t effect the result of the race and is a classic example of the cat 2 rules needing to be thrown out.
Obviously losing the battle in the steward’s room didn’t go down well with Irad who leads the Gulfstream Park jockey’s titles this year.
There has been a long history of the Ortiz Bros not getting along with Paco.
Watch 📺 the incident that started the fight 👇
