Breeders' Cup: Henry Dominguez, Pish eye big time

Trainers Henry Dominguez and Danny Pish operate two of the winningest stables at their respective bases of New Mexico and Texas. Next month, both will chart new territory with starters in the Breeders’ Cup.

Dominguez, 55, is pointing Wine Police for the $1.5 million Sprint on Nov. 2, and has secured Rafael Bejarano to ride. Pish, 47, will send out Got Shades in the $1 million Juvenile Turf on Nov. 1, and has given the mount to Gary Stevens.

Both horses have strong ties to the Southwest. Wine Police won last month’s $150,000 Remington Park Sprint Cup and was to breeze this weekend at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M. Got Shades has spent time training at Retama Park near San Antonio, and this summer won two stakes at Louisiana Downs.

Dominguez, who has racked up numerous training titles across New Mexico, is noted for his work with such horses as Song of Navarone, winner of the 2007 Sunland Park Derby, and multiple stakes winners Isn’t He Clever, Imco Spirit and Forest Mouse. He trains Wine Police for longtime clients J. Kirk and Judy Robison, and he thinks the 5-year-old gelding is an improving horse heading into the BC. The Sprint will be his fourth start back since he returned from a 19-month layoff on Aug. 1.

“I think he deserves a chance to go,” Dominguez said. “He’s a horse that had been laid up for a long time – he had feet that were nagging him. I think he’s over that. He’s coming into this race better than he has any of the others this year. He came off an 18-month layoff to win at Del Mar, and he still wasn’t 100 percent. I think he is now. That’s the reason we’re headed [to the Breeders’ Cup]. We never really have seen the best of him until now.”

Wine Police, by 2004 BC Sprint winner Speightstown, showed promise at 2 when third in the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga. He was laid off late in his 3-year-old season, following the 2011 Malibu at Santa Anita. Wine Police won a $62,500 optional claimer at Del Mar in his return. From there, he was fourth in Del Mar’s Grade 2 Pat O’Brien before capturing the Remington Sprint in his last start Sept. 29.

Dominguez is hopeful those credentials will land Wine Police a spot in the Sprint field. It would be a satisfying opportunity for Dominguez, a native of El Paso, Texas, who competed as a jockey from 1974 to 1983, primarily riding Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos. Dominguez began training in 1984, one of four brothers to train horses, among them Caesar, whose Santa Anita barn is where Wine Police will ship provided it appears he will get into the Sprint following pre-entries Monday.

Got Shades is already settled in at Santa Anita, having finished third there, beaten 2 1/2 lengths, in the $100,000 Zuma Beach on Oct. 6. Got Shades is one of a number of young stakes winner Pish has had for Dennis E. Foster, whom he came to know in 2005 through mutual friends Bob and Penley Leonard. Bob Leonard, a trainer, is now housing Got Shades in his barn at Santa Anita.

Foster purchased Got Shades as a yearling for $30,000 during the Keeneland September auction in 2012. The horse was part of a large crop Pish developed at his farm outside of San Antonio.

“I was the first guy on his back,” Pish said. “Of the group of yearlings, 43 head, I told the wife, ‘If there’s a runner in the bunch it’s one of two colts.’ He turned out to be one of the colts. The other one is a non-starter.”

Got Shades won his maiden in the $50,000 Sunny’s Halo at Louisiana Downs in August. Overall, he is 2 for 4, with his other win being the Sunday Silence.

“As a horseman, you can get caught up in potential, but production is where it’s at,” Pish said. “He jumped up and showed the production. It looks like I’ll have my first Breeders’ Cup starter because he took me to the races.”

Pish is a native of Yoakum, Texas, who was a professional bull rider before turning to training. His interest in racing was piqued by the 1978 Triple Crown series between Affirmed and Alydar. Pish has won more than 15 training titles in Texas, and his marquee horse was seven-time stakes winner Boots On Sunday.