Journeyman Has Eight Mounts on Saturday’s Opening Day Program

BALTIMORE – Laurel Park will launch its calendar year-ending fall meet Saturday with a 10-race program and multiple graded-stakes winning journeyman Angel Cruz on the verge of reaching a career milestone.

Cruz, 29, is named in eight races as he closes in on the 1,000-win mark. A finalist for the 2014 Eclipse Award as outstanding apprentice jockey, he stood at 997 including one win in his native Puerto Rico heading into Friday with two mounts at Colonial Downs.

“I’m so excited. Not all the jockeys get there,” Cruz said. “It will be a special moment for me. A thousand winners is big for any jockey. Everybody wants to get there.”

Cruz ranks fourth this year in wins at Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course with 45, and was 79-for-558 overall with more than $2.6 million in purses earned. He is coming off a 2023 season where he reached career highs across the board with 998 starts, 137 wins and $5.57 million in purse earnings.

“Through all the ups and downs in my career, it feels good to reach this stage. So many people are involved with it, all my agents and the trainers that give me the opportunity over almost 10 years,” Cruz said. “You always get ups and downs in your career, but it’s been good for the past four, five years. It’s a pleasure to get closer.”

Growing up with Eclipse Award-winning brothers Irad Ortiz Jr. and Jose Ortiz, Cruz came to the U.S. at age 11. Both his grandfather, Jose Hiraldo, and uncle, Joel Hiraldo, were jockeys and his cousin, John Hiraldo, won his first race in December 2020 at Laurel and currently rides in Florida and the Mid-Atlantic.

Cruz won his first race April 8, 2014 at Charles Town in West Virginia and also rode in California, Oklahoma and New York – where he edged Irad Ortiz Jr. for the 2015 Aqueduct spring meet title – before putting down roots in Maryland.

Represented by agent Chris Pipito, Cruz also owns riding titles at Laurel and Timonium. His graded-stakes wins have come with Dancing Rags in the 2016 Alcibiades (G1), Miss Leslie in the 2022 Delaware Handicap (G2), Harpers First Ride in the 2020 Pimlico Special (G3) and Renown in the 2020 Sycamore (G3).

“I’ve had success in other places, but Maryland is home. It’s where a lot of people have helped me, and I’ve done really good here. Hopefully I keep it that way,” he said. “To get it done at Laurel would be really special.”

Laurel’s 56-day fall meet runs through Sunday, Dec. 29 and features 36 stakes worth $3.53 million in purses highlighted by the 39th edition of the Jim McKay Maryland Million Oct. 12. Live racing will be conducted Friday through Sunday in September, November and December and Thursday through Sunday in October.

Regular post time will be 12:25 p.m. There will be special post times of 11:25 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28; 11:30 a.m. on Maryland Million Day, Oct. 12; and noon on Breeders’ Cup Day, Nov. 2.

Saturday’s card opens with a 5 ½-furlong claiming sprint scheduled on the All Along turf course for maiden fillies ages 3, 4 and 5 that drew a field of 10. Among the group are Maryland-bred Music On the Rocks, switching from dirt and adding blinkers off her debut May 10 at Pimlico, and Bess’ Candy, who sheds blinkers following two off-the-board finishes on Presque Isle Downs’ all-weather surface.

Race 6 is a 1 1/16-mile allowance for 3-year-olds and up scheduled for the Dahlia turf course that includes Who’s Counting, a steeplechase stakes winner three starts back that owns two wins on the Laurel grass; and Mission Man, a winner at the course and distance June 23 that is a younger half-brother to retired millionaire Caravel and fellow multiple stakes winner Witty.

The co-features come back-to-back, one each on the dirt and turf, for 3-year-olds and up. Race 7 is a third-level optional claiming allowance sprinting six furlongs led by multiple stakes winners Seven’s Eleven and Sir Alfred James, the latter unraced since Feb. 3. Race 8 is a third-level optional claiming allowance at 5 ½ furlongs on the All Along course featuring dirt stakes winner Swill, 15-time winner Mid Day Image and Tenebris, third in the Feb. 17 General George (G3).

Fillies and mares 3 and older will contest a 5 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance sprint on the main track in Race 9, a second-level spot where 8-year-old stakes-placed mare Anonymously chases a 12th career victory and second straight. Make It a Double has placed in six straight starts and has been third or better in 28 of 41 lifetime races with five wins.

Jamie Ness, coming off a leading trainer title at Laurel’s summer meet, has three horses entered on Opening Day while his stable rider, summer meet champion Jaime Rodriguez, is named on all three and five races in all.