SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – If he is going to win his eighth riding title at Saratoga Race Course, Irad Ortiz Jr. is going to have to be a closer.The perennial champion jockey at Saratoga has won the last four championships at the Spa, but the playing field has been leveled this year.The 33-year-old Ortiz won't begin his Saratoga summer until Sunday, giving his competitors a six-day head start. Ortiz has been serving a six-day suspension which came about from Saratoga last summer and Delaware Park last month.Four of the days were the first four of the Saratoga meet. He is also sitting out Friday after being suspended for one day by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA for a whip violation.On Saturday, Ortiz is riding at Horseshoe Indianapolis where he will be the pilot of the Brad Cox-trained Leading Charge (Gun Runner) in the $300,000 GIII Indiana Derby. He is named to ride seven horses on the card, five of them for Cox.He will make his 2026 Saratoga debut on Sunday and is named on horses in seven of the nine races.“We have a shot,” Ortiz said Thursday morning at the Oklahoma Training Track. “We still have the whole meet. It has only been two weeks. It won't be easy, but we have to take the challenge. I love challenges.”Irad Ortiz Jr. | Sarah AndrewHe admits that he was not able to watch the Saratoga races during his exile. It was too hard for him. He arrived in Saratoga earlier this week and said he has been working horses on the Oklahoma.Missing the competition has been hard.“I love to be out there,” he said. “I ride all year; we don't have any breaks. I hate it when I can't ride.”While Ortiz has been on the sidelines, his top two rivals for the crown–brother Jose and Flavien Prat–have been doing solid work early at the meet.Jose Ortiz won three races on the Thursday Saratoga card and has nine winners for the meet. Prat, with one winner Thursday, has seven winners.“It's a head start, of course,” Jose Ortiz said. “But Irad has a lot of business, and he can recover from it.”Jose Ortiz has won the Saratoga riding title three times. Prat has never won but was third last year and second in 2024.“Jose and Flavien have had good starts,” Ortiz said. “They are tough, they are winners. It's not going to be easy, but it's not impossible. I love to win here. I love the fans. We are ready.” Napoleon Solo Works at Belmont, Summers Not Sure if he'll Need a New RiderTrainer Chad Summers liked what he saw as he drove back to Saratoga from Belmont Park on Thursday. He was there to watch GI Preakness winner Napoleon Solo (Liam's Map) work four furlongs in 46.79 (1/58) as he prepares to run in the $1-million GI Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park July 18.Working on the training track, Napoleon Solo went in company with 4-year-old filly Dry Powder (Gun Runner), who is being pointed to the $500,000 GII Molly Pitcher Stakes on Haskell Day.“He went super,” Summers said by phone while driving north. “I was just looking for him to keep four feet on the ground. With him, I stopped looking at the times because the times he works are so ridiculous. We just want him happy and that's what he was.”Summers is hoping that he will have Paco Lopez as his jockey in the Haskell.Napoleon Solo wins the Preakness | Sarah AndrewLopez, who rode Napoleon Solo in the Preakness (and to a fifth-place finish in the GII Wood Memorial) was issued a 30-day suspension by the New York State Gaming Commission for “gross careless riding” following a four-horse spill on opening day at Saratoga.Lopez has appealed the ruling and was granted a stay, which will allow him to keep riding pending a hearing. That has not been scheduled yet and Lopez has been riding at Colonial Downs.“I am just as unsure as you are,” Summers said as to whether Lopez will be available July 18. “We want Paco to ride the horse; I thought he rode him perfectly in the Preakness. The Haskell is probably the race that he wants to win more than any other race in the world. He loves that track.”Lopez has won 12 riding titles at Monmouth and the last eight. He is one shy of the all-time record of 13, held by Joe Bravo.If Napoleon Solo runs well in the Haskell, the next stop for the colt, owned by ESPOIR USA Inc., which purchased him from Al Gold for an undisclosed amount after the Preakness, could be the $1.25-million GI DraftKings Travers at Saratoga Aug. 29.“That will be a decision for the ownership and management,” Summers said. “The Travers is a historic race, and we know the 3-year-old championship goes through Golden Tempo (Curlin), we are aware of that. With us, it's just one step at a time.” Ocelli Appears to be Bound for HaskellOcelli (Connect) is going to win a race one of these days. Isn't he?Whit Beckman, the trainer of the hard trying but never winning Ocelli, hopes that day comes in the Haskell Stakes. That looks to be the landing spot for the horse, who finished third in the GI Kentucky Derby and fourth in the GI Preakness Stakes.In his most recent start, Ocelli, owned by Ashley Durr, Anthony Tate and Front Page Equestrian LLC, finished second in the GIII Ohio Derby.Ocelli has started nine times and has two seconds and four thirds. He has earnings of $829,800. This year he has started seven times and has one win and three thirds.Ocelli | Sarah AndrewBeckman was also considering the GII Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga and the Curlin Stakes. The Haskell was more appealing to him because of field size. There are as many as 10 horses expected at Monmouth. The Saratoga races, historically, have drawn half that.“He is better with more horses,” Beckman said at his office at the Oklahoma Training Track Thursday morning.Ocelli has shown a willingness to take the lead in the stretch, but, once he does that, he begins to idle.Beckman has seen in several times, in the Kentucky Derby and, most recently the Ohio Derby.“Tyler [jockey Gaffalione] has to work where he doesn't make the lead too early,” Beckman said. “That is the biggest issue we are having. We are making the lead too far out from the wire. He'll put his head in front and then he'll idle. After the Ohio Derby, Tyler came back and said, 'Whit, if he would have kept the same speed that he had when we passed them, he would have won by 10.”Beckman's ultimate summer goal is the Travers. Ocelli, who worked four furlongs in 49.20 (42/94) at Churchill Downs on Saturday, will have one more work there before shipping to Monmouth. The post Saratoga Notebook, Presented By NYRA Bets: Irad Ortiz Jr. Giving Other Saratoga Riders A Head Start appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.