Off pair of eye-opening wins, Baby Vino jumps into Travers for Lindsay Schultz
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – From the time she first stepped on the racetrack 15 years ago, Lindsay Schultz has always found herself around nice horses.
She worked as a hotwalker for Nick Zito when he had the likes of Commentator, Ice Box, Da’ Tara, and Cool Coal Man in the barn. She was a traveling assistant for Tom Proctor when he was training two-time Grade 1 winner Marketing Mix, the multiple graded stakes winner Cambodia, and stakes winners such as Global View and Temeraine. She spent a year working for the Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey, who always comes up with stakes-caliber horses.
In Baby Vino, Schultz has a nice horse she can call her own. A son of Vino Rosso, Baby Vino gave Schultz, 37, her first Grade 1 victory in last month’s $1 million Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park. Saturday, Schultz will seek her next Grade 1 when she starts Baby Vino in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga.
After defeating Preakness winner Napoleon Solo in the Haskell, Baby Vino will take on that rival again, as well as Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Golden Tempo; Kentucky Derby runner-up and Jim Dandy winner Renegade; graded winners The Puma, Emerging Market, and Silent Tactic; and impressive Curlin Stakes winner Sea Strike. And Ocelli may still be a maiden, but he did finish third in the Kentucky Derby.
“It’s a massive honor and kind of unbelievable when you look at the other people you’re running against in this race and their credentials and their experience and everything they’ve done – the horses and the trainers,” Schultz said Monday outside Saratoga’s barn 57, where she maintains a six-horse string.
Schultz spoke after Baby Vino put in his final workout for Saturday’s race, breezing a half-mile in 47.36 seconds over Saratoga’s main track and galloping out five furlongs in 1:00.56 and six furlongs in 1:13.21.
“He did it easy. Had him galloping out in a minute-and-change and he didn’t come back with too much of a blow,” Schultz said.
Baby Vino was a late arrival to Schultz’s barn last fall. She had him entered in a race at Fair Grounds last Nov. 27 but had to scratch when the horse developed a hematoma on his elbow after sleeping on his shoe.
With her owners being from Arkansas, Schultz took Baby Vino to Oaklawn Park for the winter. He had two seconds and a third from his first four starts before finally getting his maiden win on May 1 – the day before Golden Tempo won the Kentucky Derby.
Baby Vino caught people’s attention winning the Pegasus Stakes by 10 3/4 lengths at Monmouth on June 13.
“After he won the Pegasus, I had people start asking me if he could be a Grade 1 horse,” said Schultz, who had trained graded stakes winners Whelen Springs and Highestdistinction. “I never trained a Grade 1 horse before. I thought he could be a really good horse, but, look, we went into the Haskell with plenty of confidence. He showed his hand all along the way.”
Paco Lopez was aboard for the Pegasus victory but was committed to Napoleon Solo in the Haskell. Jorge Vargas Jr. rode Baby Vino in the Haskell and gave a terrific ground-saving ride, prevailing over Napoleon Solo and Lopez by a half-length. With John Velazquez named to ride Napoleon Solo in the Travers, Lopez will be back aboard Baby Vino on Saturday.
Schultz noted that Lopez worked Baby Vino at Fair Grounds before he ever ran and was named on him for that Nov. 27 debut from which he was scratched. Lopez worked him up to the Pegasus.
“The Pegasus wasn’t the quality of the Haskell, but he gave him the easiest trip he’s had in all of his races,” Schultz said. “I think Jorge Vargas rode a phenomenal race, and he’s ridden horses for us in the barn and he’ll continue to ride horses for us in the barn, and I’m beyond thrilled that he won the Haskell and we did it together. But to have the chance to put Paco back on the horse, we went ahead and took it.”
Schultz’s overall stable numbers 55 horses and is likely only to grow. Baby Vino is owned by Marcus Osborne’s Cosmos Stables and Josh Isner’s Delta Squad Racing. Since the Haskell, Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud has bought an interest in the colt.
For Schultz and Baby Vino, the Travers offers another opportunity to show they can play at Thoroughbred racing’s high end.
“He’s a Grade 1 winner, he hasn’t run in the classics, and he’s never run a mile and a quarter before, but he trains like he will [get it],” Schultz said. “I think he fits with them, and, most importantly, he deserves the chance to run against this group, and this is a good opportunity to do it when he’s in such good form.”