Kentucky Derby Horse Profile: Barber Road

Apr 28, 2022 John Mucciolo/TwinSpires.com

WSS Racing’s Barber Road sits in 13th place with 58 qualifying points on the 2022 Road to the Kentucky Derby challenge series leaderboard. The John Ortiz trainee was runner-up in the Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn Park on April 2 in his most recent performance.

'Winning effort once again,' Ortiz said. 'The distance proved to be the right angle that we're looking for. Obviously, we still might need a little bit more. Once again, we've still got to work out our traffic situation, but the horse has got guts.”

Barber Road went unplaced in his debut offering at Colonial Downs on August 3, but the son of Race Day showed major improvement when adding blinkers for his second assignment. The gray graduated at Keeneland going 1 1/16 miles in a $30,000 maiden claiming tilt on October 14, and he proved that his effort was not a fluke when dominating starter allowance foes in his subsequent showing at Churchill Downs. He capped his juvenile campaign with a close second-place showing in the Lively Shively S. beneath the Twin Spires. 

The colt commenced his sophomore season with a second in the Smarty Jones S., which was followed by a close second in the Southwest S. (G3), prior to his third-place run, beaten by just a half-length, in the Rebel S. (G2). For his career, he dons a lifetime line that reads 8-2-4-1, $650,720. 

Barber Road was bred in the Bluegrass State by Susan Forrester and Judy Curry, and he was purchased for a bargain $15,000 as a weanling at the 2019 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. He is the first stakes performer produced from the winless Southern Image mare Encounter, who is a half-sister to Grade 3 heroine Susan’s Angel and the stakes-winning Copingaway.