King Humor wins comeback race for Barboza
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – King Humor showed he was something special right off the bat, winning his debut during the height of the 2018 Gulfstream Park championship meeting by four lengths while earning an eye-catching 98 Beyer Speed Figure. But his career was put on hold for a year last June after he exited a stakes win here with an injury, and there was always the question of whether the promising youngster would be able to come back and live up to all that potential.
King Humor took the first step in that direction last Friday when he rallied from off a brisk and contested pace to launch his comeback with a 2 1/2-length victory in a high-priced optional-claiming dash. The outing was not only his first in 12 months but came in his first start against older horses and in his first experience over a wet racetrack. The win kept his record unblemished in four starts.
King Humor, a son of Distorted Humor, is trained by Victor Barboza Jr., who said his horse wasn’t totally cranked up for his return.
“I think my horse was 85 percent conditioned for a race,” said Barboza. “He missed a work a couple of weeks ago because of the rain and a wet track. But he is 100 percent class and, for me, the best horse I’ve ever trained in my life.”
Barboza, who began training horses in his native Venezuela nearly 20 years ago, saluted the owners, Granpollo Stable, for showing patience and allowing him to take all the time he needed to get King Humor back to the races as a 4-year-old this season.
“He needed three to four months on the farm after he got hurt winning the stakes here last year and the owners have been very patient with me,” said Barboza, who began his U.S. training career here in the spring of 2015 and has a dozen victories during the current session.
Barboza said although it is tempting, it is unlikely he’ll wheel King Humor back in the Grade 3 Smile Spring on June 29.
“I don’t think I’ll run him back in the stakes,” said Barboza. “Bringing him back in two weeks will be too soon.”
