Retired Quarter Horse rider Alex Baldillez wins first start as a Thoroughbred trainer

Alex Baldillez established himself as an elite Quarter Horse rider during a 40-year career that included a win in the prestigious All American Futurity. Now, he’s training Thoroughbreds.

Baldillez, who retired from riding in 2015, launched a racing stable this fall at Remington Park. He registered his first win Dec. 3 with Implicator in a maiden special weight route. It was the fifth starter for Baldillez.

“I’m used to being in the saddle,” he said. “It felt awkward to leg up that first jockey on my first horse – then it’s out of my hands.”

Baldillez, 62, began race riding in 1975 and won a slew of Grade 1 stakes, from New Mexico to Southern California to Oklahoma to Texas. Overall, he was a winner of more than 1,540 races, and his mounts earned more than $21 million.

After he retired from riding, Baldillez said he wanted a new challenge.

“For a year there, I was kind of lost, because I’d always been a jockey,” he said. “In 2017, I went to Santa Anita to get my stewards license, did the program, and after I did the program I decided that wasn’t really for me. I wasn’t much on the suit and tie. I wanted to be on the backside.”

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Baldillez decided to immerse himself in the Thoroughbred industry. He went to work for trainer Ron Moquett, spending time on such circuits as Kentucky.

“I wanted something to really challenge me, something that would keep me really, really driving,” Baldillez said.

He decided training Thoroughbreds would be the right path for him after years of exclusive work with Quarter Horses.

“I rode Quarter Horses for 40 years, but the first seven years I rode Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses,” Baldillez said. “After seven years, I got hooked up with B.F. Phillips, and I got to ride some good horses. That’s when I switched over to straight Quarter Horses. I ended up riding them for the last 33 years.”

Baldillez now has a number of horses in training for Don Leach, in a connection made through another sport, hockey. Baldillez’s son, Payton, played hockey with Leach’s son at Norwich University in Vermont. They were part of a championship team. The older Baldillez said he recently ran into Don Leach.

“He wanted to upgrade horses and started buying horses,” Baldillez said. “I have six for him.”

Baldillez will have horses at Oaklawn during the meet that opens in January, and also has asked for stalls at Sam Houston. His stable is expected to double by the end of 2020.

Implicator is an Arkansas-bred by Race Day who won over a mile and 70 yards at Remington. The 3-year-old earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 70. Implicator won by 4 1/2 lengths in a thrilling first training win for Baldillez.

“The way he did it was very impressive,” he said. “I just got this feeling like I had won a big race. When he opened up, it was a feeling that I never had before, coming from a trainer’s point of view, not a jockey’s point of view, so that was pretty neat.”

Baldillez said another promising young runner in the barn is Sweet Adeline, a 2-year-old daughter of Hard Spun. She is from the female family of champion Favorite Trick. Sweet Adeline was second in a maiden special weight in her debut and is being pointed to a race on Remington’s closing-night card Dec. 20.

Baldillez said this new career path has been extra special as he is being assisted by Payton, who has a business degree with a concentration in sports management.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Baldillez said.

◗ Man in the Can, a top Arkansas-bred who won two stakes last meet at Oaklawn, makes his first start since July in the featured eighth race Friday night at Remington.