Warrior Johny ends losing streak in style
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After turning in a trio of subpar performances to close out his 2023 campaign, trainer Phil Bauer didn’t know where he was at with Warrior Johny. But the veteran horseman is now pretty certain where he stands after watching Warrior Johny dominate a stakes-caliber field of older allowance horses by four lengths on opening day of the Saratoga season.
Thursday’s impressive victory was the first in more than 13 months for Warrior Johny, who, at his best, has turned in some outstanding efforts, including an 8 1/2-length entry-level allowance triumph for which he received a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure here in 2022. He nearly duplicated that effort yesterday, earning a 98 Beyer after defeating a group that included Grade 1 winner Blazing Sevens, Grade 3 winner Rocket Can, and the Grade 2-placed Film Star. His two most notable victories both came at 1 1/8 miles.
“To be honest I was kind of blown away by his performance yesterday,” Bauer said Friday. “Obviously, the end of last year was extremely disappointing, three poor races in a row like that. We went over him head to toe and couldn’t find anything wrong, so [we] just kicked him out for the winter after that.
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“I was admittedly disappointed with his first start this year too, at Keeneland, the way he was training into the race, so it’s really been a sigh of relief for me now that he’s been marching in the right direction with his last three races.”
Bauer said he’s not certain what will be next for Warrior Johny but indicated it would in all likelihood be a stakes of some sort later in the meet.
“He’s out of [allowance] conditions so we’ll probably look for something black type around two turns for his next start,” Bauer said. “He obviously likes it here and when he’s right, he’s pretty good.”
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