Baeza a Kentucky Derby candidate in both pedigree and name

Mar 05, 2025 Vance Hanson/Brisnet.com

'Who is Baeza?' is a question with multiple answers. Let's first explore the one pertinent to the here and now.

Baeza is a California-based three-year-old colt who will look to officially board the Kentucky Derby (G1) train to Louisville next month. Some would argue he's been on it ever since he was a yearling, and in one respect, that's true.

Although by the hot, young sire McKinzie, Baeza really gets his pedigree star power from his dam, a daughter of 2008 Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown named Puca. If that name sounds familiar, it's because Puca has already reared a Kentucky Derby winner, 2023 victor Mage.

Puca had an opportunity to become the first broodmare in history to produce two Derby winners when her younger son, Dornoch, contested last year's Derby. Although a distant 10th after a rough trip, Dornoch enjoyed an otherwise successful campaign that included wins in the Belmont (G1), Haskell (G1), and Fountain of Youth (G2).

Several months after Mage won the Kentucky Derby and soon after Dornoch placed in his stakes debut, Baeza went through the ring at the Keeneland September sale. Although by a sire that was unproven at the time, Baeza's pedigree and conformation were popular enough for him to be hammered down after a $1.2 million bid.

Baeza was placed in training with John Shirreffs, most notably the conditioner of the brilliant Hall of Fame mare Zenyatta. However, Shirreffs also struck gold with Giacomo, who pulled off a 50-1 upset in the 2005 Kentucky Derby.

Shirreffs has a reputation for winning the big races slowly and steadily, not rushing his best stock to achieve preordained goals but instead allowing them to develop their full potential at their own pace.

Time is what Baeza has needed. Perhaps out of his element when debuting on turf at Del Mar in December, where he finished ninth of 11, Baeza improved when trying dirt at Santa Anita on Jan. 4. Although beaten seven lengths into second by Rodriguez, it was a notable step forward.

Baeza put it all together on Feb. 14 in another maiden at Santa Anita, which, like the previous two, was contested over one mile. He won by 4 3/4 lengths, earning a 98 Brisnet Speed rating and a trip to the Santa Anita Derby (G1) on April 5.

Baeza's chances of becoming the third consecutive member of his family to make the Kentucky Derby field won't be easy. He has earned no qualifying points to date and would likely need to finish no worse than second in the Santa Anita Derby, which is expected to attract reigning juvenile champion Citizen Bull and the eye-catching San Felipe (G2) winner Journalism. But you can’t win it if you’re not in, and at this time, Baeza will give it a shot.

The other answer to “Who is Baeza?” involves the horse’s namesake. That would be the retired Hall of Fame jockey Braulio Baeza. If that name doesn’t sound familiar to many readers and racing fans, there’s a plausible explanation.

Like Los Angeles Dodgers pitching great Sandy Koufax, who hung up his cleats in 1966 when not quite 31 years of age, Braulio Baeza retired from riding so long ago that only a dwindling few can attest to having witnessed his talent in person or viewed it on television. Due to the increasing pressures of maintaining a riding weight, Baeza was forced to retire from the saddle in 1976 at the age of 36. But like Koufax, Baeza’s career was filled with monumental highs in a relatively short career.

After being the dominant jockey in his native Panama in the late 1950s, Baeza became one of the first of many riders from Latin America supported by prominent owner-breeder Fred W. Hooper, for whom Baeza rode under contract during the early years of his U.S. career. For 17 years, Baeza was one of the nation’s elite jockeys and made an almost immediate impact upon his arrival.

Baeza began riding in America in April 1960, winning 11 races at the Keeneland spring meet, including the Lafayette S. for two-year-olds. Shifting his tack to Churchill Downs for its three-week spring meet, Baeza won the riding title despite leaving early to follow the Hooper horses to Chicago.

Baeza was a dominant force at Washington Park and Arlington Park in Chicago that summer, and by the fall was firmly established on the premier New York circuit, where he began competing daily, and successfully, against legends like Eddie Arcaro and Bill Shoemaker. Winters were largely spent in Florida, except for a season or two at Santa Anita in California.

Baeza’s first shot at a Kentucky Derby came early. The Hooper-owned Crozier was one of the leading juveniles in Chicago during the summer of 1960 and earned his way into the following year’s Derby through his performances in the Florida preps and by winning the Derby Trial at Churchill. But Crozier proved second best in the Derby to Carry Back, who would beat Crozier again in the Preakness.

But Baeza’s first success in a classic would come soon enough and at the expense of the Triple Crown-seeking Carry Back. Without Crozier in the field, Baeza picked up the mount on the long-winded Blue Grass S. winner Sherluck in the Belmont S. No worse than second throughout the 1 1/2-mile journey, Sherluck pulled off a massive upset by more than two lengths, with Carry Back finishing far back in seventh. Sherluck paid $132.10 to win.

Baeza’s one and only Kentucky Derby win came two years later, when he guided Chateaugay to victory against a small but select field in the 1963 edition. He was also up for Chateaugay’s victory in the Belmont S., the second of his three wins in the “Test of the Champion.”

Baeza was unlucky not to win another Derby. In 1966, he was the regular rider for both the brilliant Graustark, whom Baeza still considers the best horse he ever rode, and the reigning juvenile colt champion Buckpasser. Unfortunately, both failed to make it to the Kentucky Derby starting gate despite being lengths better than those that did. Graustark suffered his one and only loss while sustaining a career-ending injury in the Blue Grass, while Buckpasser missed the entire Triple Crown due to a quarter crack. Buckpasser was back by summer, though, and earned the Horse of the Year title after going 12-for-12 in stakes company.

Baeza was also the regular rider for Arts and Letters, who narrowly missed winning the 1969 Kentucky Derby and Preakness to arch-rival Majestic Prince. Arts and Letters eventually returned the favor in the Belmont and went on to claim Horse of the Year honors. And in Baeza’s last year of riding in 1976, he had to settle for second in the Derby aboard Honest Pleasure, who at 2-5 was one of the heaviest Derby favorites in history to lose.

Baeza’s long association with the Phipps family enabled him to ride their numerous juvenile champions in the 1960s, but that decade was not all about his success with younger horses. Baeza was routinely aboard Dr. Fager during his legendary and diverse Horse of the Year campaign in 1968, as well as Roman Brother’s less accomplished one in 1965.

Baeza was the main pilot aboard other three-year-old champions like Key to the Mint (1972) and Wajima (1975) and was aboard Foolish Pleasure in his “victory” over the ill-fated filly Ruffian in their tragic 1975 match at Belmont Park. But an undisputed highlight for Baeza occurred in 1972, when owner John Galbraith named him to ride Epsom Derby (G1) winner Roberto in the inaugural Benson and Hedges Gold Cup (G1) at York, a race now known as the Juddmonte International. In a front-running masterpiece of race riding, Roberto and Baeza handed the legendary English champion, Brigadier Gerard his only loss in an 18-race career.

Baeza, who turns 85 later this month, was inducted into the Hall of Fame the year he retired from riding. A living ghost of racing’s past, expect him to receive renewed attention and appreciation if his four-legged namesake qualifies for American racing’s signature event.