Principe Carlo ($39) steals the show in Cary Grant
DEL MAR, Calif. – For more than two decades, Librado Barocio has kept his hand in the racing business as an on-again, off-again trainer, while also overseeing his Culver City, Calif.-based New Latin Cinema production company. On Sunday at Del Mar, in a race named for cinema great Cary Grant, Barocio had perhaps the best picture of his life.
The photo-finish camera showed his trainee Principe Carlo a nose winner over 2-1 favorite Positivity at the end of the $100,500 Cary Grant. The victory was the first stakes win for Barocio, who has won 33 races dating back to 1999.
“I prayed so hard. I felt good about it,” Barocio said of awaiting the result to be posted on the tote board. “I was hoping my eyes weren’t deceiving me.”
They weren’t. Principe Carlo ($39), under Kent Desormeaux, had gotten up in the last jump to nail Positivity, with Colt Fiction another half-length back in third. None Above the Law, Peaceful Transfer, Fashionably Fast, and Loud Mouth completed the order of finish.
Principe Carlo was timed in 1:22.33 for seven furlongs on the fast main track.
Barocio said he currently has seven horses. His latest stint as a trainer commenced in June, after he finished working on a film. He had claimed Principe Carlo for $20,000 in October 2020, with the help of trainer Paul Aguirre, but the horse needed time off, and he didn’t make it back to the races until 55 weeks later. Barocio said Aguirre and trainer John Brockleback helped bring the horse back to good health before Barocio took over.
Principe Carlo was second in a first-level allowance against California-breds in his return on Oct. 30, then moved on to the Cary Grant, a Cal-bred stakes race. The win was the seventh in 22 lifetime starts for the 5-year-old horse, who is by Coil out of the Rahy mare Princess Ezra.
Barocio went to film school at UCLA, graduating in 1987. He worked for the late, great trainer Julio Canani, and credits him and Canani’s assistant, Miguel Delgado, with his racetrack education.
Working in the film industry is his main source of income, but racing is in his blood, and thus he has dabbled in it over the years, with a handful of horses at a time. He’s had a couple of instances where he didn’t train for three years. Only four times has he had more than 25 starters in a season, and he’s never won more than six races in a single year. His win total this year is 3.
“People have been good to me all along,” Barocio said, specifically thanking Chris Merz, the racing secretary at Santa Anita, and David Jerkens, who holds a similar position at Del Mar.
“People have believed in me. They’ve given me a chance,” he said.
Barocio owns Principe Carlo, racing as Mia Familia Racing Stable.
“Mia Famila is my wife, two daughters, and son,” Barocio said.
Quite the story. Might make a good movie.