Irad Ortiz Jr. Off to Fast Start for Championship Meet<br> Woolf Nominee Alvarado Makes Championship Meet Debut<br> Rainbow 6 Gross Jackpot Pool Guaranteed at $75,000

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Terry Hamiliton’s Silent Heart carried on his family’s winning tradition at Gulfstream Park Thursday while graduating in style.

The flashy black colt broke sharply to grab the early lead and went on to post a dominating 2 ¼-length triumph in Race 7, a five-furlong maiden special weight event for 2-year-olds on turf. The Brian Lynch trainee’s performance was worthy of his sire, Heart to Heart, a multiple Grade 1 stakes winner who excelled on turf at Gulfstream between 2016 and 2018, producing five stakes victories, including four graded wins.

Lynch-trained Heart to Heart, a son of English Channel owned by Hamilton, captured the Fort Lauderdale (G2) and the Canadian Turf (G3) in 2016, the El Prado and the Canadian Turf (G3) in 2017, and the Gulfstream Park Turf (G1), currently renewed as the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1), in 2018.

Silent Heart, who was sent to post as the 3-5 favorite in a field of nine, entered Thursday’s race off a pair of gritty second-place finishes in Kentucky to start his career. He overcame early trouble to finish second in a five-furlong maiden race on turf at Horseshoe Indianapolis in his Sept. 25 debut before losing by just a head at Churchill Downs Nov. 10 in a five-furlong race that was taken off the turf and run on a fast main track.

Silent Heart set sharp fractions of 21.47 and 44.23 seconds for the first half mile before completing the five-furlong distance in 55.31 under Luis Saez.

“He’s a very nice colt. He has everything. He has speed; he can be anywhere,” Saez said. “When he came into the stretch, I had plenty of horse. He kept on going.

Saez, a three-time Championship Meet titlist, enjoyed his first day of competition at the current season.

“I have a pretty long history here. I have a lot of beautiful memories here,” Saez said.

Irad Ortiz Jr. Off to Fast Start for Championship Meet

Irad Ortiz Jr. got off to a fast start in his bid to defend his jockey’s title Thursday at Gulfstream Park, riding the winners of two races on his first day of action for the 2023-2024 Championship Meet.

Ortiz, who has won four of the last five winter meet titles, scored aboard Anajuliaforever ($3.20) in Race 2 and Rezasrolex ($7.20) in Race 6.

“If feels great just to be here,” Ortiz said. “People always support me here. It feels good to be back in the winner’s circle.”

Ortiz rode 128 winners to win last year’s Championship Meet crown, 57 more than the defending 2021-2022 titlist Luis Saez.

Woolf Nominee Alvarado Makes Championship Meet Debut

Journeyman Junior Alvarado made his Championship Meet debut Thursday at Gulfstream Park, his first day riding since being announced as a nominee for the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award.

It is the first time the 37-year-old Alvarado, a winner of more than 2,000 career races, has been nominated for the award, voted on by fellow riders in honor of Woolf, the Hall of Fame jockey that rode Seabiscuit to his famous match race victory over War Admiral in 1938.

Alex Birzer, Julien Leparoux, Edwin Maldonado and Rodney Prescott were also nominated for the Woolf, to be presented in February 2024 at Santa Anita.

“I was shocked. I saw it in the media and people started tagging me,” Alvarado said. “I was very shocked but at the same time I am very happy just to be nominated. It’s just a privilege to be considered for that award, and I’m happy. It’s been an incredible year for me.”

Alvarado has 86 wins this year with a career-high $12,912,923 in purse earnings from 679 mounts. He has won 15 graded-stakes, eight of them Grade 1, including the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Jan. 28 at Gulfstream aboard Art Collector.

“From the beginning of the year with the Pegasus and everything after that, it just seems like I’ve had a very good run,” Alvarado said. “I’ve stayed healthy, and I’ve been riding a lot of good horses and they’ve been winning good races for me. I enjoy every win with them.”

Alvarado has also been the regular rider for Cody’s Wish, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) for a second straight year, as well as the Met Mile (G1) and Churchill Downs (G1) that will garner consideration for Horse of the Year.

“It’s been extra special having a horse like Cody’s Wish. That horse himself made this year very special for me and my family,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of Grade 1s in my career, but nothing like him. He’s a once-in-a-lifetime horse. I don’t see that I will come up with another horse with that kind of story. I was very glad that me and my family were part of it.”

Alvarado ranked fourth with $3,558,035 in purse earnings and tied for seventh with 30 wins from 244 starters at the 2022-2023 Championship Meet, also winning stakes with Sibelius in the Mr. Prospector (G3), Stolen Holiday in the Suwannee River (G3), Rocket Can in the Holy Bull (G3), and Hurricane Bertie (G3) and Gulfstream Park Sprint with Candy Man Rocket.

“It’s always great to be here. It feels to me like home. It was my first place when I came here from Venezuela, so I’m very excited,” he said. “I rode last week in New York, and it was getting very cold there. My wife said today they were getting a little bit of snow, so I’m glad to be here where the weather is unbeatable in the winter.”

Rainbow 6 Gross Jackpot Pool Guaranteed at $75,000

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 gross jackpot pool will be guaranteed at $75,000 for Friday’s program at Gulfstream Park.

The popular multi-race wager went unsolved Thursday for the second racing day following a mandatory payout that returned multiple $50,999 payoffs last Saturday.

Who’s Hot: Defending titlist Irad Ortiz Jr. doubled on his first day back, scoring aboard Anajuliaforever ($3.20) in Race 2 and Rezasrolex ($7.20) in Race 6. Luis Saez, a three-time Championship Meet titlist also doubled aboard Silent Heart ($3.40) in Race 7 and Cumberland ($5.60) in Race 10.

Edgard Zayas also rode a pair of winners: Game Warden ($5) in Race 3 and Khozy Colby ($2.60) in Race 5.