SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Let's just hold off on handing the 2026 Eclipse Award for top jockey to Jose Ortiz.Says who?Says Ortiz.It's true that the 32-year-old Ortiz has had a phenomenal first half of the season with wins in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes [with Golden Tempo (Curlin)] and the GI Dubai World Cup and GI Stephen Foster Stakes [with Magnitude (Not This Time)].He has also ridden the best 3-year-old male sprinter in the land in Englishman (Maxfield) and is the regular rider of 4-year-old filly Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro), who won the GI Ogden Phipps Stakes by 12 3/4 lengths and is targeting a run vs the boys in the GI Whitney Stakes at Saratoga next month.And don't forget Lagynos (Kantharos), who has won four graded stakes on grass his year already.All told, according to Equibase, Ortiz has won 19 graded stakes thus far this year, six of them Grade Is.“Not yet,” Ortiz said on the Saratoga backstretch when asked if he had already clinched the Eclipse, which would be his second. “I have had a great first half of the season, but I have to keep it going and put up the same kind of numbers in the second half.”Ortiz will have one big decision to make next month before the horses are loaded into the starting gate for the Whitney. He will have to choose between Magnitude and Nitrogen, who figure to be major players in the Saratoga marquee race for older horsesWhen asked about the big decision, he smiled and said it was too early to discuss. But he knows the day is coming when he will have to decide. That question will have to be answered by his agent, Steve Rushing.“Steve makes the decision,” Ortiz said. “I pay him 25 percent. That's his job He doesn't tell me how to ride; I don't tell him how to be an agent.”Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse knows how difficult it will be for Ortiz, who has ridden Nitrogen in 14 of her 16 career starts.“It's going to be a tough call for him,” Casse said. “He loves Nitrogen, and he loves Magnitude. The good news is that there are a lot of good riders out there.”Beckman Wants to See Ocelli in the Travers, but how does he get There?The most famous maiden in the land could end up in the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes at the end of August. The dilemma facing trainer Whit Beckman is how does he get Ocelli (Connect) to the Midsummer Classic?Beckman was pondering that Saturday morning in his office at the Oklahoma Training Track. Ocelli, owned by Ashley Durr, Anthony Tate and Front Page Equestrian LLC, has gone to the races nine times in his career.Nine times he has lost, but he hardly ever disgraces himselfHe was third in the GI Kentucky Derby, fourth in the GI Preakness Stakes and, most recently, second in the GIII Ohio Derby. A horse with zero wins has a bankroll of $829,800.Ocelli | Sarah Andrew“I don't know if there is any other horse that can bag over $800,000 and not break their maiden,” Beckman said. “I don't think you can have both of those things in the same sentence in most cases. I feel like he is overdue. We have definitely given him tall tasks at every turn, but he has always shown up and been more than competitive.”Beckman has nominated Ocelli for just about every major race for 3-year-olds before the Travers, and it looks like it will come down to the GI Haskell Stakes at Monmouth on July 18 or one of the two Saratoga stakes, the Curlin on July 29 or the GII Jim Dandy on Aug. 1.“We just have to figure out what we are going to do,” Beckman said.Ocelli had his first work since the June 20 Ohio Derby on Saturday. He went four furlongs in :49.20 (42/94) at Churchill Downs. Beckman said he will bring the colt up to Saratoga and it might be sooner than later.He said the original plan was to have Ocelli work one more time in Kentucky and then ship to the Spa.“I might want to get him out of there,” Beckman said. “It's like 900 degrees there. I will just have to see what the weather is going to be. If it's going to be nasty down there, I might bring him up here next week.”Temperatures in Louisville are supposed to drop from the 90s into the mid to high 80s for much of next week.Renegade gets Vote of Confidence From PletcherThere has been some disappointment, absolutely, with the end results of Renegade (Into Mischief), who went into the Triple Crown series with so much anticipation.It didn't work out. He was a valiant second to Golden Tempo (Curlin) in the GI Kentucky Derby after a tough trip and was beat by that foe again in the GI Belmont Stakes last month. He was third that time.Still, his Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher knows what he has in the colt, who is owned by Robert and Lawana Low and Mike Repole's Repole Stable.“He is a really good horse,” Pletcher said outside his office at the Oklahoma Training Track. “Since the Belmont, he has done very well. If we can have a month leading up to the [GII] Jim Dandy like we have been having so far, he is going to be in a position to make a move forward.”Renegade went off as the 9-5 favorite in the Belmont and finished third, 5 1/4 lengths behind Golden Tempo. In the Kentucky Derby, Golden Tempo beat Renegade by a neck.In that race, Renegade drew the rail and got bounced around early before jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. got position and made a late run that came up just short.“We all know he had a difficult trip in the Derby,” Pletcher said.In the Belmont, Pletcher thought his colt could turn the tables on Golden Tempo.“I will say that I give (Golden Tempo) a lot of credit,” Pletcher said. “He showed up in the Belmont and ran a big race. I wasn't positive that he would be able to repeat his Derby effort, but, in fairness to him, he did. I think any of the doubters with how legitimate his Derby was were quieted by his performance in the Belmont.”When asked if he wanted another shot at Golden Tempo in the Travers, Pletcher just smiled.“We want a shot in the Travers,” he said, “whoever is in there.”The post Saratoga Notebook: Ortiz Says Still Work to be Done before Winning Eclipse appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.