With great money comes great expectations. Amr Zedan paid $3.2 million to buy the 3-year-old colt Barnes as a yearling. Barnes has run some good races. The Perryville on Saturday at Keeneland might have been his best.
Put right into the race by jockey Jose Ortiz, Barnes tracked a fast pace set by Taylor’s Version, overwhelmed that rival at the quarter pole, and drew steadily clear to post an 8 1/4-length victory over 4-5 favorite Captain Cook.
Barnes probably was the “natural” favorite, but Captain Cook opened up at odds of 1-9, with about $175,000 bet on him to win with 20 minutes to post. And Captain Cook had no chance the way Barnes ran in the Grade 3, $350,000 Perryville.
Trainer Bob Baffert sent Barnes from California to Churchill Downs for his career debut last November. Baffert had been banned three years from Kentucky Derby participation but was eligible to participate again in 2025, and the debut locale suggested connections already were thinking Derby. Barnes won that 5 1/2-furlong maiden, then won the seven-furlong San Vicente, but he returned to Kentucky this week having lost four in a row since that second victory.
In the San Felipe, his two-turn debut, he set the pace and dug in but could not match late stride with Preakness Stakes winner Journalism. Barnes, racing too keenly, laid an egg in the Santa Anita Derby on April 5 and didn’t race again until August, when Ortiz rode him for the first time and finished third in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens over seven furlongs at Saratoga. Barnes fell much too far behind the leaders going six furlongs in the Gallant Bob at Parx Racing last month, and got a far better trip in the Perryville.
“At Saratoga, he was behind a wall of horses, and I had to wait,” Ortiz said. “Today, I talked to Bob earlier and he wanted me to break out of there very aggressive and put him forward. The horse helped me.”
Taylor’s Version went 21.69 and 44.18, a demanding pace, and when Ortiz asked Barnes to get closer early on the far turn, Barnes quickly drew alongside Taylor’s Version, who came under pressure before the quarter pole as Ortiz still sat chilly. Set down at the three-sixteenths, Barnes drifted out a couple paths, but even through a final furlong in a tepid 13.65 he widened his lead over Captain Cook.
Captain Cook, who finished second in the Jerkens in his most recent start, raced from fourth while outrun early, made a mild bid into the homestretch, and finished well enough, at least, to put 4 1/2 lengths on third-place Owen Almighty. Rolando, then a tired Taylor’s Version, brought up the rear. Barnes clocked 1:23.45 over a fast track and paid $5.22 to win. Barnes is by Into Mischief out of All American Dream, by American Pharoah. He was bred in Kentucky by Jeff Drown and Don Rachel.
That’s three wins from seven starts, Saturday’s the most complete race Barnes has run. Barnes would figure to get a Grade 1 chance this winter in the seven-furlong Malibu at Santa Anita. Once again, there will be expectations.
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