Barber Road enjoying time at WinStar; will return to races late fall or early winter

Barber Road, who is on vacation after running in two-thirds of the Triple Crown, has a long range target of next year’s Oaklawn Handicap, according to trainer Johnny Ortiz.

Ortiz noted Barber Road’s sire, Race Day, won that race and the Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn and those are major objectives for the horse owned by WSS Racing.

“We’d love for him to do what his daddy did,” said Ortiz.

Barber Road came to hand at the last Oaklawn meet, finishing second or third in the track’s four points races for the Kentucky Derby. He went on to run sixth in the Kentucky Derby and seventh in the Belmont Stakes.

Barber Road is spending his downtime at WinStar Farm in Kentucky.

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“He’s enjoying his time off,” Ortiz said. “We’ll look at [coming back] at the end of November at Churchill or, with Oaklawn opening in December, that could be another spot to start him as well. We’re going to point towards the Oaklawn Handicap and work back from there.”

At the most recent Arkansas meet, the Grade 2, $1 million Oaklawn Handicap was run April 23. Oaklawn has not yet released its stakes schedule for 2022-2023.