HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. will return to the saddle here Saturday after being sidelined due to a knee injury suffered in a gate mishap two weeks earlier. Ortiz, the three-time reigning Eclipse Award winner, was originally diagnosed with a small fracture in the knee after slamming into the starting gate when his mount, Shea On a Mission, became fractious prior to the start of the seventh race on Jan. 7. He was expected to be sidelined for the better part of a month, but after he got a second opinion, Ortiz’s injury was downgraded to a less-serious contusion of the knee and he was given the green light by his doctor to begin riding again after being re-examined Monday. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports Ortiz tested out his knee working one horse here Tuesday morning and two more on Wednesday, all for trainer Jorge Delgado, after which he declared he was good to go for Saturday. “Irad said he felt great this morning,” his agent, Steve Rushing, confirmed late Wednesday morning. “He’s going to start back on Saturday, only ride a couple each day this weekend, and gradually get back to a full card starting next week.” Among Ortiz’s confirmed mounts on Saturday is Max K. O. for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. in the Sunshine Turf. Ortiz, who missed 30 days after sitting out a riding suspension meted out by the New York stewards for a pair of incidents at Aqueduct in early December, had the call at the time of his injury on both Life Is Good in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational and defending champion Colonel Liam in the $1 million Pegasus Turf Invitational, both on Jan. 29. Both horses are trained by Todd Pletcher. Pletcher said Wednesday that Ortiz would keep those mounts “assuming all goes well with his riding this weekend.”