- 1 day ago
Jose Ortiz is one of the nation's best jockeys, but he had never won the Kentucky Derby until he steered Golden Tempo to victory on May 2, 2026 at Churchill Downs. To make the moment more meaningful, he ran down the favorite in the last jumps before the wire. The favorite? Was Renegade, ridden by his brother, Irad Ortiz. Jose talks to the Writers' Room team about the experience, saying, "In the moment, you have the killer instinct, but afterwards, I felt bad for him because I know what it means to him. But in the moment, I was riding for me and my connections and I'm happy that we got it."
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00:17as i said before we have so many great guests from such a great kentucky derby
00:22we had to create a second podcast for this week so we're going to call this
00:27the tdn writers room overtime and we also are going to include daisy phipps palito which you
00:33may have seen earlier along with the winning jockey jose ortiz jose thanks for joining us
00:38and congratulations on winning your first kentucky derby plus of course the daily double
00:43of the kentucky oaks and the derby thank you bill so jose one of the stories that made this so
00:50wonderful for many reasons was the relationship with your brother and to see that the two of
00:56you finished first and second was obviously something that both of you took a lot of great
01:01pride in but a couple questions along the way and not being a jockey and maybe zoe would should be
01:06better to ask that question at what point in the race did you realize it was coming down to you
01:12and iraad on renegade and did does it cross your mind that man that's my brother i'm going to beat
01:20him or do you think that it's no different if it's javier castellano or johnny velasquez
01:25or any one of the other uh mike smith or anyone else how is it different being in a stretch
01:30duel with
01:31you know uh your your big brother yeah i think inside the eight pole uh when i finally go all
01:38the
01:38way out uh i thought that it could be between me and him and honestly when you are riding i
01:47think that
01:49killer instinct in you
01:54doesn't you might have wanted to beat him more yeah i don't think about that but i knew it was
01:58him
01:58because i was following almost every step of the way in the second half of the race
02:03uh but no i mean now afterwards it's like i feel bad for him because i know what it means
02:11to him
02:12but uh as well it was my dream as well so i was riding for me and my connections and
02:17i'm happy that
02:18we got it so the photograph of you guys locking arms as you were galloping out past the finish line
02:25was it's gone viral but i'm kind of curious what were the conversations like between you two
02:31later when it all when it all settled down like maybe the next day or whenever you had a chance
02:38to talk to him about the derby how did that conversation go what was said no he was very
02:43happy for me he told me that uh i deserve it i worked very hard for it and uh oh
02:50that he's proud
02:51and happy and uh but the only thing that he hate is that i follow him every step of the
02:56way and
02:57he gave me oh yeah he said no i don't like to get beat like that like basically my same
03:03trip uh so
03:04you just kind of take advantage of that and i was like yeah i mean you had a nice horse
03:09and uh you are
03:10one of the best in the world it's perfect combination to follow did he say what he thought when he
03:16looked
03:16over and noticed it was you he told me he thought at one point that he was gonna win uh
03:23but then he felt
03:24something coming in the outside and when he looked uh he saw the the black and cherry he said oh
03:30wow
03:30this is jose so he was like i mean it's great because as close as he as he was uh
03:39his first reaction
03:41is just being happy for me and congratulate me uh i mean he didn't even thought about him losing
03:49the race of his dreams i mean i think that was is pretty remarkable and as you know i speak
03:57about
03:57the kind of person he is as well so jose take me through the trip because seemingly you had an
04:05almost perfect trip because you were last exactly where you wanted to be things didn't go quite as
04:10perfectly for a rad and that's kind of how he wound up right in front of you when did you
04:17know
04:18that he got bounced around when he was like right in front of you like take me through the trip
04:22and
04:22what you were thinking the whole way around yeah i was very happy with my trip i broke kinda
04:30go squeeze a little bit but i didn't really have to check i just closed my eyes and hopefully he
04:36don't clip heels and i i was like i'm not gonna check him right away i'm gonna go straight to
04:42the rail
04:42now and i was very happy in a good rhythm uh but going into the backside passing the six full
04:50lens i starting to see ira in front of me i mean it was like probably five six lengths in
04:59front of me
05:01and gaffa leon was outside of him so i see those two and i think they're two great riders so
05:07i was like
05:07okay this this is it i gotta follow one of these two and they will take me places uh but
05:15obviously
05:16you know you can miss those three poly silks uh and renegade is a very nice horse so i
05:24when i saw that passing the six full on going into the backside i was like locked in on that
05:30i was like
05:30i'm gonna follow whatever move he makes i'm gonna follow him and hopefully my heart respond and
05:36golden tempo did respond very good so i was wondering with uh i read obviously having all that
05:44problems at the start and he only lost by a neck and uh you know i'm not gonna take anything
05:50away
05:51from golden tempo but you had a better trip than than he did um did you did he express any
05:57frustration
05:57that he just was unlucky because if if if he didn't get you know he he suffered through a lot
06:05of trouble at the start and he only lost by a neck um did he again say geez you know
06:12it just i just
06:13didn't have the luck today yeah he told me you know drawing the one hole it's kind of tough uh
06:19you know and you could see some bumping he got some some pressure from the outside and it was a
06:25lot
06:25of contact in the early stage of the race for him which i'm sure it affected him i'm sure it
06:31did you
06:31know he got beat only ahead he i mean with a clean trip probably he could have win the race
06:39and yeah he
06:40he told me that and but that's racing luck you know and yeah that's the luck of the draw
06:47and unfortunately for him and his team they got the one hole and they gotta go through that but i
06:53think
06:53his ride was unbelievable coming from the one hole the amount of contact he received early on and
07:00and the horse is first of all it's very nice horse to overcome all of that and just get beat
07:06by a head
07:07i think renegade is is the real deal you said something to zoe that's it's basically irrelevant
07:13but i think it's i think it's kind of funny zoe as a former jockey clearly i'm not a former
07:18jockey
07:18when further ado and ocelli came over on you at the start you said you closed your eyes for a
07:23second
07:23i was like i'm not checking him he he already got no speed so i'm not gonna check him
07:29the part of the ado came out farther than but he broke better than me so it kind of didn't
07:34affect me
07:35so i was like uh let me go inside and see what happens like he jumped these hills
07:40and it worked out were you surprised that you were as far back as you were or is that or
07:46do you just
07:46kind of expect that being golden tempo oh i didn't want to rush him i was spent all weeks watch
07:54i spent
07:54all week watching uh mind that bird and uh trying to pick uh calvin brain like what he do early
08:02on
08:02where did he move and obviously i didn't have the real trip but i kind of the first half of
08:11the race
08:11i did basically i knew that was gonna be my stuff so i i i start watching that replay over
08:19and over and
08:20over and over and i want to pick his brain you know see where why he did leave in the
08:24gate uh the first
08:26time through the wire how far he was or the rhythm uh and that was my how do you call
08:35it like
08:36my example i i wanted to do everything close to that obviously sometimes it don't go perfect but
08:44that was my motto i want to follow that kind of trip uh calvin calvin did with my number because
08:50i knew
08:50the horses got similar style coming from the back so that was i wanted to do that if you had
08:56called
08:57calvin he would have told you that you needed to give have white paint on your boot yeah i don't
09:03know
09:03if that would work because there was a lot of traffic in there so jose you won the oaks the
09:10day before
09:10for chad brown she was one of the favorites she wasn't the favorite but she was one of the favorites
09:17talk about winning the oaks and and then the confidence you had going into derby day because
09:22that was a terrific run on always a runner as well yeah i think uh friday i was on a
09:32roll like
09:33everything everything yeah everything was running i felt like i was running i was making all the right
09:41move plus that i had i was riding good horses and i don't know i was just in such a
09:48good rhythm and
09:50obviously she was very nice and i think we had a a good trip there as well i think it
09:57was a very good
09:57ride and yeah i think i was riding great form the whole weekend and i'm sure that helps jose i
10:06happen
10:06to be a very big baseball fan so i love the story that came out the day before about your
10:12cousin elmer
10:13rodriguez a pitcher for the new york yankees a rookie who said he was more nervous about the kentucky derby
10:21and seeing his two cousins finish one too than he was about pitching for the new york yankees tell us
10:27about your cousin and uh what's your relationship and how closely does he follow uh the career of you and
10:33irad yeah he's uh younger than us about nine ten years uh we grew up uh same neighborhood uh so
10:45watching him grow as well is it's been amazing um actually he pitched tonight which i'm getting ready for
10:53and uh what can i say i mean we got great relationship elmer he we talk every day and
11:07he love horses and edwin diaz as well uh uh the closer of the dodgers love horses and
11:15him and elmer they train together together in the off season so we always every day talking we are in
11:25a
11:25group chat and they all they all they don't talk about baseball they only talk about horse racing
11:32so yeah it's it's great uh to have elmer because it gives some uh
11:44how i say it uh i hope to the kids back home that it's possible and uh we do a
11:51horse racing you do it
11:52on baseball so they got options so hopefully they follow his path as well i look something up
12:01he's six four how do you have a cousin yeah because we are in puerto rico
12:11it's not like he's like my mom's sister son it's like second cousin you know like big families and
12:19then right yeah second like second yeah his dad is very tall his mom is tall as well but uh
12:28in my side we are obviously shorter so bill's a gigantic red sox fans uh fan those three words
12:37have never been said on this podcast new york yankees he was in the red sox they trade him for
12:44uh
12:46the red sox draft them and they trade him for the catcher who who's the catcher
12:53nava carlos narvaez exactly he came in that trade okay oh there you go bill he's a former red sox
12:59a lot of the red sox yeah he was in the red sox organization for about
13:04i would say three two three years all right for him now yeah he was drafted he was offered a
13:13d1 to oregon
13:15to go pitch for the university or drexos drafted him and he chose to go pro okay okay well it's
13:23a
13:23good thing you're not six four
13:26jose i got one more question for you and it basically is in regards to your move to kentucky
13:32a few years ago and the first year you went to new orleans it seems like that was a pivotal
13:37moment in
13:38your career not getting away from the shadow of your brother just getting away from the other
13:43ortiz and doing your own thing going to new orleans going to kentucky hooking up with sheree it just
13:50seems like your career you've always been a great a good rider but it's just stepped up how has how
13:56has that helped you move on no yeah i think uh it was more that move about fairground it became
14:05because
14:05i study everything around happening and if when i moved to kentucky i saw that a lot of kentucky
14:18trainers go to the fairgrounds and when they come back those horses are very very competitive
14:26in kentucky so at the point i wasn't riding for
14:33chad i'm not riding for todd i'm not riding for the other big guys and i felt like it was
14:41a huge
14:41opportunity to go to fairgrounds and get in in barns like sheree asmussen i'm riding for joe sharp
14:52i ride a little bit for brad cox there but i mean obviously i don't ride more for him in
14:58kentucky but
14:59i saw a huge opening and i talked to steve and we agreed that it was a good decision and
15:06uh
15:07i'm glad we did it i mean it's been great uh tom amos he's been a huge supporter
15:13uh in the fairground as well in kentucky and yeah but i think that move
15:20came along with the move to kentucky i think it was the right thing to do in the winter time
15:24and
15:25you know i think fairground racing is great uh i love the fairground i love the people around there
15:33they they welcome me with open arms i i can't say nothing bad about luciana
15:38fairground the people is unbelievable it's so great
15:43well very good well jose thank you so much i know it's been a busy week for you and congratulations
15:48what a weekend to win the kentucky oaks and of course the uh kentucky derby as well we don't
15:54know if we're going to see in the preakness yet or not sheree has not made that decision
15:58but uh i'm sure with the year you're having you're going to have many more big stakes wins and many
16:04more highlights uh uh on your card in 2026 and who knows maybe it's your turn this year for an
16:11eclipse
16:11award you're certainly right now putting together the type of resume that voters are going to have to
16:16take that very seriously so once again thanks for joining us here on the tdn writers room
16:21overtime podcast uh we will uh certainly once again uh thank you so much and congratulations on all your
16:29success thank you bill thank you randy thank you sorry thank you jose
16:33thank you very much
16:35you
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