By Dick Jerardi
John Shirreffs has experienced just about everything in his half-century training career. He has seen his Giacomo win the 2005 Kentucky Derby at 50-1. He oversaw the brilliant career of Zenyatta, one of the most accomplished and beloved horses of the 21st Century.
Why, therefore, was his first visit to Parx with the most expensive ($1.2 million yearling) horse he ever had in his barn so memorable and so exciting for him?
Shirreffs had sent Baeza to Parx the Saturday before the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby. He was there all week to oversee the horse’s training. It was Baeza’s fourth trip east since May from his California base. The horse tried so hard against Sovereignty and Journalism without reward.
The trainer knew how talented the colt was, but he also knew he had spent the spring and summer playing catch up against colts with more experience. He also knew that on the final Saturday of summer, Baeza was ready to run the race of his life.
And when 7-5 favorite Baeza blew past most of the field heading into and around the far turn and then caught the final horse in front with 200 yards to go, Shirreffs knew it was Baeza’s time and his time. The official margin was 2 1/4 lengths, but it felt like more. Baeza was just that dominant.
“Today was one of the most exciting races I have ever participated in to tell you the truth and that includes races that included Zenyatta,” Shirreffs said. “This was like ‘prove yourself today.’ And he did. Because of all the hope we had for Baeza, all that buildup, and working at the barn. It was just like ‘this is it today.'”
And it was. There was no doubt about the best horse in this Pa. Derby. The colt was put in proper position by jockey Hector Berrios. And when called upon around the half-mile pole, Baeza started to move and never stopped moving, looking like a certain winner by the far turn.
Shirreffs was eating dinner in the Parx Casino one night when he looked at replays of what he remembers as the last 20 Pennsylvania Derbies.
“Look at all the great horses that have won it,” he said.
The group would include 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Bayern, 3-year-old champions and Travers winners Will Take Charge (2013) and West Coast (2017) as well as 2024 Preakness winner Seize the Grey.
The horses that have run in the race, but were not good enough to win it include two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome, Horse of the Year Gun Runner and Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist.
Hard to know how Baeza’s career will turn out, but his Pa. Derby win could very well be a springboard to proving that someday, he could be included on the list of great horses which have won it that Shirreffs so admired.
The Derby was race 14 of 15 on a card that stretched from just after 11 a.m. until just before 7 p.m. It was some show from start to finish with no race worth less than $100,000, total purses of $4 million and seven stakes races.
The bettors reacted very positively to all the action. They started firing early and never really slowed down, accounting for a total handle of $17,800,334.
The local stars of the day were unquestionably jockey Paco Lopez and trainers Lou Linder and Freddie Velazquez. Lopez won four races, including two of the stakes. He won the $400,000 Gallant Bob on 23-1 longshot Mad House, with a classic Paco front running ride on a horse that was coming off a 3-race win streak at Canterbury Park. Nobody really knew how to put that streak in context. Now, they do. The form translated.
Lopez also won the finale, the $150,000 Parx Sprint, on 2-1 favorite Buccherino for Velazquez. The jockey put the horse right into the race, battled the other speed horses much of the way and then held off the closers to win comfortably in the end.
Linder may not have won any races, but his barn put on some show anyway with horses that hardly got bet at all. Praetorian Guard (38-1) was third in the Greenwood Cup. Volleyball Princess (13-1) was second in the Liberty Bell. And Ourdaydreaminggirl (42-1) ran an incredible race to finish third in the $1 million Grade I Cotillion.
The Cotillion’s three Grade I winners (Scottish Lassie, La Cara and Good Cheer) were nowhere at the finish. Indiana Oaks winner Clicquot (5-1) was a neck in front of Cathryn Sophia winner Dry Powder (7-1) who was a head in front of Ourdaydreaminggirl. So less than a half-length from glory at the trainer’s home track.
In the end, you get what you get. Linder’s horses earned a tidy $152,000 in the stakes races, a great showing on the track’s biggest day of the year.
And, as it has been every September since the Pa Derby and Cotillion were moved to the same day and surrounded by a first-rate card put together by the racing office, Pennsylvania Derby Day was a wonderful experience. Can’t wait for 2026.
