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Forbes
29-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Barocio Listens To Lovesick Blues And Wins The Bing Crosby Stakes
Trainer Librado Barocio has a moment with Lovesick Blues after their victory in the Grade I $400,000 ... More Bing Crosby Stakes Saturday, July 26, 2025 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Del Mar, CA. Benoit Photo Never underscore the importance of the player-coach relationship. Communication is always a key, but the important thing is that both are driving on a two-way street. Yes, the final decision should always belong to the person with the line-up card, however input from the one in the trenches should never be discounted. With that in mind, there is one Thoroughbred trainer that is ecstatic since one of his stable stars bent his ear. Librado Barocio is becoming a fixture on the California Thoroughbred racing scene. Having been in and out of the sport since taking out his training license in 1998, this Richmond, California native has enjoyed success primarily with California-bred horses running in the older division races. Having picked up his first graded stakes wins just last year, Barocio has enjoyed increased success since the calendar turned to 2025. As a student of the game, this conditioner that doubles as a film maker saw an opportunity with one of his hot horses and decided to take a swing in the grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on July 26. Lovesick Blues is a seven-year-old son of Grazen that has become increasingly better with age. Always a hard-running horse, his forty career starts had yielded only eight wins but twenty six finishes in the top three. His last five starts had come on turf and that left many wondering why this veteran gladiator was willing to face the fastball that is a grade 1, Breeders' Cup win and you're in, six-furlong drive over the Del Mar dirt. Once the nine runners loaded and the gates opened, everyone else knew in just over one minute and eight seconds what Barocio had already heard in the days leading up to the race. 'He had been telling me he wanted to go back to the dirt', says Barocio. 'All his training said he was ready and deserved this kind of opportunity. He always runs hard and just has a heart of gold. His works were crying out for a start in a race like this and I am glad I listened.' Mia Familia 's Lovesick Blues a jockey Geovanni Franco win the Grade I $400,000 Bing Crosby Stakes ... More Saturday, July 26, 2025 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Del Mar, CA. Benoit Photo Breaking alertly, Lovesick Blues rolled up the backstretch rating off a very solid early pace (21.78 opening quarter mile, 44.48 half mile). As the runners turned for home, the front-running Hejazi spurted clear. Getting the cue from his regular rider, Geovanni Franco, this California-bred swung outside and began an all-out assault on the front-runners. Moving with tremendous momentum, Lovesick Blues broke some hearts as he rolled past Hejazi inside the final furlong and won by a widening 1 ¾ lengths. 'This horse truly has been a blessing for our barn', says Barocio, who earned his first grade 1 victory as a trainer. 'He is proven on the grass and dirt. His versatility is amazing and he can win being out front or closing in as he did here. The Grazen offsprings seem to get better with age and he absolutely has improved as he has gotten older.' Crossing the finish line at odds of 18-1, this seven-year-old gelding shook up the world in more ways than one. Yes, he rewarded his backers with a nice return, but also sent his conditioner into deep thought as now he has his first grade 1 winner and a spot for his ever Breeders' Cup starter in the 2025 Sprint, which will be run at Del Mar on November 1. 'We are likely to run him one more time before the Breeders' Cup', says Barocio. 'I will consult with a few veterans of the game before deciding exactly what our path will be. I listened to what my horse was telling me and I will continue to listen and look for wisdom as we prepare for the World Championships of Thoroughbred racing. Wow, t
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Be Your Best and Skippylongstocking give Ortiz and Joseph a stakes double at Santa Anita
In a photo provided by Benoit Photo, King of Gosford and jockey Flavien Prat, outside, overpower Mi Hermano Ramon (Hector Berrios), middle, and Cabo Spirit (Lanfranco Dettori), inside, to win the Grade I, $300,000 Shoemaker Mile, Monday, May 26, 2025 at Santa Anita Park, Arcadia Calif. (Benoit Photo via AP) In a photo provided by Benoit Photo,Daniel Alonso's Skippylongstocking and jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., right, hold off Midnight Mammoth (Armando Ayuso up), inside, to win the Grade II $200,000 Hollywood Gold Cup Monday, May 26, 2025 at Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, Calif. (Benoit Photo via AP) In this image provided by Benoit Photo, Skippylongstocking, with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, wins the Grade II $200,000 Hollywood Gold Cup horse race Monday, May 26, 2025, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. (Benoit Photo via AP) In this image provided by Benoit Photo, Be Your Best, center front, with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, wins the Grade I $300,000 Gamely Stakes horse race Monday, May 26, 2025, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. (Benoit Photo via AP) In this image provided by Benoit Photo, Be Your Best, with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, wins the Grade I $300,000 Gamely Stakes horse race Monday, May 26, 2025, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. (Benoit Photo via AP) In this image provided by Benoit Photo, Be Your Best, with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, wins the Grade I $300,000 Gamely Stakes horse race Monday, May 26, 2025, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. (Benoit Photo via AP) In a photo provided by Benoit Photo, King of Gosford and jockey Flavien Prat, outside, overpower Mi Hermano Ramon (Hector Berrios), middle, and Cabo Spirit (Lanfranco Dettori), inside, to win the Grade I, $300,000 Shoemaker Mile, Monday, May 26, 2025 at Santa Anita Park, Arcadia Calif. (Benoit Photo via AP) In a photo provided by Benoit Photo,Daniel Alonso's Skippylongstocking and jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., right, hold off Midnight Mammoth (Armando Ayuso up), inside, to win the Grade II $200,000 Hollywood Gold Cup Monday, May 26, 2025 at Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, Calif. (Benoit Photo via AP) In this image provided by Benoit Photo, Skippylongstocking, with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, wins the Grade II $200,000 Hollywood Gold Cup horse race Monday, May 26, 2025, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. (Benoit Photo via AP) In this image provided by Benoit Photo, Be Your Best, center front, with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, wins the Grade I $300,000 Gamely Stakes horse race Monday, May 26, 2025, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. (Benoit Photo via AP) In this image provided by Benoit Photo, Be Your Best, with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, wins the Grade I $300,000 Gamely Stakes horse race Monday, May 26, 2025, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. (Benoit Photo via AP) ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Be Your Best led all the way to earn her first Grade 1 victory in the $300,000 Gamely Stakes by 2 3/4 lengths Monday at Santa Anita. Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., Be Your Best ran 1 1/8 miles on turf in 1:46.26, the fastest time in the race for fillies and mares since 2017, when Lady Eli won in 1:45.29. Advertisement The 5-year-old Ireland-bred mare and Ortiz traveled from the East Coast to compete. It was Florida-based trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.'s first career win at Santa Anita. About 30 minutes later, Ortiz rode odds-on favorite Skippylongstocking to a three-quarters of a length victory in the $200,000 Hollywood Gold Cup for Joseph. 'It was amazing to get that Grade 1, then you don't want to go home with Skippy getting beat,' Joseph told track officials by phone. 'So for him to go out there and win a historic race like the Hollywood Gold Cup was truly special.' In the $300,000 Shoemaker Mile, Britain-bred King of Gosford and jockey Flavien Prat won. Advertisement King of Gosford ran the distance on turf in 1:33.52 and paid $10.80, $4.80 and $3.60. Mi Hermano Ramon was second and Cabo Spirit was third. In the Gold Cup, Skippylongstocking ran 1 1/4 miles in 2:01.64 and paid $3.60, $2.60 and $2.10. He increased his career earnings to over $3.6 million with 11 wins in 32 starts. Midnight Mammoth returned $7.20 and $3.60 and Extensive paid $2.40 to show. It was Skippylongstocking's eighth graded stakes victory at six different tracks. 'He's just a hard-knocking horse who takes his track with him everywhere he goes,' Joseph said. 'He's a sound horse and he's very strong mentally. We'll be forever grateful for him.' Advertisement In the Gamely, Be Your Best paid $6.20, $3.80 and $3.00. Lady Claypoole returned $8.20 and $4.60 and Liguria returned $5 to show. 'She is a very good filly and she showed it,' Joseph said. 'This is really big for us.' Be Your Best has six wins in 20 career starts and earnings of over $1 million. ___ AP horse racing:
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bob Baffert is back at the Kentucky Derby with 2 contenders after serving a 3-year suspension
FILE - Jockey John Velazquez, front left, stands with Jill Baffert as they watch as Jill's husband, trainer Bob Baffert, holds up the winner's trophy after Medina Spirit won the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File) FILE - In this image provided by Benoit Photo, trainer Bob Baffert celebrates his fourth win of the day after Richi won the Grade III $100,000 Las Flores Stakes horse race, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. (Benoit Photo via AP, File) FILE - Jockey John Velazquez, front left, stands with Jill Baffert as they watch as Jill's husband, trainer Bob Baffert, holds up the winner's trophy after Medina Spirit won the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File) FILE - In this image provided by Benoit Photo, trainer Bob Baffert celebrates his fourth win of the day after Richi won the Grade III $100,000 Las Flores Stakes horse race, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. (Benoit Photo via AP, File) Bob Baffert is back at the Kentucky Derby for the first time in four years, having served his punishment for Medina Spirit's failed drug test and coming to the place where he's won a record-tying six times. He's settled in at his old Barn 33, the signs boasting of his Churchill Downs triumphs again hanging on the outside wall. Advertisement 'I'm going to have fun now that everything is behind me,' Baffert told The Associated Press in an interview this week. The white-haired trainer will saddle Wood Memorial winner Rodriguez and Citizen Bull, last year's 2-year-old champion, in the Derby on May 3. 'Going back with a live horse is more important to me,' he said. 'I really feel like this year I have two horses that could be in the top five, top 10.' Baffert spent the last three years away from the race he values most, relegated to watching on television with family and friends. Taking away some of the sting was the knowledge that he didn't have a horse he believed could have won it those years. Advertisement 'The Derby is a great experience if you have a horse that's capable and has a chance,' he said. He thought he had that horse in 2021, with Medina Spirit crossing the finish line first to give Baffert a record-breaking seventh Derby victory. Until a failed drug test ultimately disqualified the colt — just the second in Derby history to be DQ'd for that reason — and tarnished the reputation of a trainer known as the face of horse racing, having won the Triple Crown in 2015 and 2018. Baffert initially was suspended two years in June 2021 for Medina Spirit testing positive for betamethasone, a steroid which is legal as a therapeutic in Kentucky but not allowed in a horse's system on race day. Advertisement 'We never denied the positive,' he said. 'We knew we had the positive.' Baffert said he and his lawyers attempted to explain that Medina Spirit had been treated with a topical ointment containing the steroid for a skin inflammation. His biggest regret? 'I wish I would have known about the (steroid) having the betamethasone,' he said. 'In hindsight we would have left it (in California). Then we wouldn't have had this issue. 'But at the end of the day, it still can't be in his system and that was the problem.' The Louisville track tacked on an extra year to his suspension in July 2023 after continuous legal appeals by Baffert about the failed test. In January 2024, he dropped the appeal related to Medina Spirit's DQ. The colt had died following a workout in late 2021. Advertisement Accepting Baffert's words of contrition, Churchill Downs lifted his suspension last July and he returned to the track in the fall to win a race. Bill Carstanjen, CEO of Churchill Downs Inc., was there to shake his hand. 'We had a good talk,' Baffert said. 'I understood his position.' The ordeal took a toll on the 72-year-old trainer and his family, his clients and his wallet. 'It's one of those things where I'm just tired of talking about it,' he said. 'It's been a tough three years and I've put that behind me.' While the suspension kept Baffert from competing at Churchill Downs, his horses were able to run in the other Triple Crown races. He won the Preakness in 2023 for a record eighth time. Advertisement Being back at his old Kentucky home is reuniting Baffert with folks he hasn't seen in recent years. And his return is welcomed by some rival trainers. 'There's no question that Bob Baffert is very popular and draws a lot of people's attention. He deserves to be back,' said Mark Casse, who saddles Sandman in the Derby. 'We all want to win, but we want to beat the best.' Michael McCarthy trains likely Derby favorite Journalism and sees Baffert daily at their shared Santa Anita base in California. 'He's a polarizing figure in our sport,' McCarthy said, adding that Baffert 'puts people in the seats.' Advertisement Despite precarious times for racing in California, Baffert sees himself continuing in the only job he's ever had as long as he still enjoys it and attracts the type of owners who can afford quality horses. 'I love the journey of it all,' he said. 'After so many years of being successful, you think you've built enough equity where you could sort of cruise along, but not as a horse trainer. Every year I'm starting out fresh. That's what keeps me going. These horses are great therapy.' Baffert is winning at a 33% clip so far this year in a sport where misery is often just around the corner. 'It's a fun business if you let it be a fun business,' he said. 'If you don't let it get you bitter, you'll be fine, and I have not let it get me bitter. What happened, happened. I took responsibility for it, so that's it.' ___ AP horse racing:
