CRAWFORD | Jose Ortiz waited, watched, then found the Kentucky Derby at the wire | Derby News

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Jose Ortiz did not win the Kentucky Derby by panicking.

He won it by understanding exactly what kind of horse he had beneath him, exactly what kind of race was unfolding in front of him, and, maybe even before the gates opened, exactly when not to force the moment.

On a chaotic Derby Saturday at Churchill Downs, Golden Tempo broke poorly, got bumped and pinched back, and dropped to the rear of an 18-horse field, exactly where a jockey least wants to be if he has any doubts at all. Ortiz had none. The official chart showed Golden Tempo last early, still with only five horses beaten at the top of the stretch, before launching widest of all and surging past Renegade in the final jumps to win by a neck in 2:02.27.

That was not desperation. That was design.

And in a way, it began before the break.

Ortiz said afterward that when Great White began struggling at the gate, he recognized what was happening and wanted no part of loading Golden Tempo only to back him out again. That, too, was a Derby decision, a small one on the surface, but a smart one in a race where horses can be undone before they ever leave the stall.

"I wasn't in there yet, so I was very happy," Ortiz said. "My guy wanted to put me in. No, no, no, he's going to be scratched, don't put me in." He added that once a horse is loaded, "he knows he's going forward," and that backing one out changes everything.

Then the race began, and Ortiz rode it the same way he handled the gate scene. With patience.

"I knew my horse was a deep closer, so I don't have any interest in being in front early," Ortiz said. "I was hoping for a fast pace, and I'm glad we had it."

He got exactly the kind of race he needed.

Six Speed ripped through the opening quarter in :22.68 and the half in :46.44, pressed by So Happy and others, before Danon Bourbon took command. The Derby was run hard up front — hard enough to set the table for late runners.

That was the ride.

The move wasn't simply that Ortiz came late. It was that he came late without getting reckless. He said he followed Renegade and Irad Ortiz Jr. — his brother and, in his mind, the horse to beat — and trusted that angling outside would not cost him the race. It was a judgment call made at Derby speed, in Derby traffic, with the biggest race in America hanging in the balance.

"I felt like I had horse," Ortiz said. "So I was following Irad on Renegade, and I felt like we were moving along very nice. I felt like going outside on him wasn't going to hurt me."

It didn't.

Golden Tempo advanced between horses passing the three-furlong pole, swung seven wide into the lane, then fanned even farther out and rallied widest of all. He brushed with Renegade while the two were battling late, but Golden Tempo had the final gear. Ortiz had timed it just right.

"I know the point that I had to make my move today," he said. "I think I timed it right."

You could say that again.

For a few strides, though, it looked as if Renegade might overcome everything.

Todd Pletcher's colt drew the one hole and paid for it almost immediately. The chart said Renegade bumped with Albus at the start, then was slammed again shortly after when Litmus Test came in. Irad Ortiz Jr. put it more simply: "We got squeezed at the start." Pletcher said Renegade "got a little roughed and got pushed out of his position."

And still he almost won.

After settling well back while saving ground, Renegade came under a ride into the second turn, picked his way through traffic, angled outside into the stretch, absorbed another bump from Incredibolt near the three-sixteenths pole, and kept coming. He reached the front about 50 yards from the wire. In another Derby, with another trip, maybe that is enough. In this one, Golden Tempo was rolling harder.

The rest of the field kept running, too.

Ocelli, the 70-1 outsider, made a bold run and briefly forged an advantage at the sixteenth pole before being outkicked late, finishing a strong third. Chief Wallabee also ran on after traffic trouble to finish fourth. Danon Bourbon, after moving to the front and opening up into the stretch, dug in gamely before giving way late.

So this Derby was not won with one dazzling move. It was won with a chain of correct decisions.

Ortiz did not fight Golden Tempo's style. He embraced it. He accepted the bad start. He trusted the pace. He trusted the chaos. And even before the race began, he trusted his own instincts enough to keep his horse out of a bad situation at the gate.

"We always knew we sort of have a lot of ability," Ortiz said of Golden Tempo in the post-race news conference. "But he's very lazy."

At the Derby draw, Golden Tempo's trainer, Cherie DeVaux, showed a photo of the colt taking a nap. One of his favorite things.

But lazy horses do not usually look like this at the finish of the Kentucky Derby. This one did because his rider never asked him for the race too early.

DeVaux had said all along that Golden Tempo was a "dead closer," the kind who would keep coming if the setup was there. Saturday, it was. The trainer had the horse ready. The pace softened the field. The lane opened just enough. But the Derby still required someone calm enough to see it before everyone else did.

That someone was Jose Ortiz.

And by the time he and his brother came storming through the lane together, one reaching for the roses and the other trying to steal them back, Jose had already done the hardest thing in the Kentucky Derby:

He had waited just long enough.