Jorge Vargas Jr. and Baby Vino outdueled Preakness winner Napoleon Solo through a stretch-long battle to win the Grade 1 Haskell by a half-length at 28-1 over a sloppy Monmouth Park strip. (Monmouth Park Photo)
Lynne Snierson
Longshot Baby Vino made his first appearance in a graded stakes race a triumphant one in a thrilling renewal of the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell at Monmouth Park on Saturday, and up-and-coming trainer Lindsay Schultz, who was saddling her first runner in a top-level affair, became the first woman to win the track’s premier event in 59 runnings.
Moreover, the Monmouth-based journeyman jockey Jorge Vargas, Jr. notched the first Grade 1 win of his career.
The Haskell, first run in 1968 at Monmouth Park, is a “Win and You’re In” through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series and Baby Vino earned his guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the Grade 1, $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland October 31.
The on-track, enthusiastic and rain-soaked crowd of 35,608 sent the locally-based Baby Vino postward at odds of 28-1, and when he crossed the wire a half-length in front of Preakness Stakes winner Napoleon Solo on the sloppy track he rewarded his backers with a $58 return for a $2 wager. It marked the largest Haskell win payout since Skip Trial paid $73.00 on July 27, 1985.
Co-owned by Marcus Osborn and James “Smoky” Osborn’s Cosmo Stables and Josh Isner’s Delta Squad Racing, Baby Vino proved he has grown up into contention as one of the top 3-year-olds in the current crop. After taking five tries to graduate from the maiden ranks at Oaklawn Park before making Monmouth his summer home, the son of Vino Rosso dazzled in his first stakes race. He won the listed NYRA Bets Pegasus Stakes on June 13 by 10¾ lengths in the final local Haskell prep.
That gave his connections the confidence to step all the way up into the top level and take on a field that included Grade 1 winners Napoleon Solo from the barn of Chad Summers and the Brad Cox-trained Further Ado.
“From what he has shown us in the mornings, if he was able to get to this step we were going to take it. I thought we were competitive in this field. You never know until you’re there, but I thought he belonged. After his last race we thought this was the right place to try. When this horse broke his maiden you think about what he could do down the line so it (a race like the Haskell) was definitely on our minds at that point,” said Shutz, who is the seventh woman to train a Haskell horse.
Not only was the colt being asked to handle the considerable class hike, he was also tasked with trying a sloppy (sealed) racing strip for the first time. The conditions presented no problem for him in the sixth Haskell contested in the slop. The most recent was in 2016 when Exaggerator captured the trophy.
When the gates opened Vargas rated Baby Vino off the pace set by Napoleon Solo, who was handled by Paco Lopez through the first quarter in 24:15. Baby Vino and Vargas moved up along the inside and into contention as they reached the half-mile marker in a pedestrian :48.29. As Napoleon Solo set splits of 1:12.01 for six furlongs and 1:36.98 for the mile, Baby Vino was engaged close behind.
Coming out of the turn, those two battled in a furious fight down the lane while bumping a few times, with each giving as good as he got. Baby Vino got his head in front at the wire in 1:50.18, just a half-length in front of the Preakness winner. Iron Honor, who was the Preakness runner-up, was another 3½ lengths behind.
The Puma, making his first start since the March 28 Grade 1 Florida Derby, favorite Further Ado, Parx invader Star Sweeper and the maiden Ocelli followed them home.
As soon as the horses crossed the wire the stewards posted the inquiry sign but allowed the results to stand.
Regarding the inquiry, Schultz said, “I didn’t have a chance to talk to Jorge. He was still on the track. (Then he rode the next two races). It was a horse race to the wire. Both of them were going back and forth. I think the stewards have to look at something like that.”
Added Vargas, “It’s racing riding. Paco obviously was doing his job. If I was in his position I would have done the same thing.”
Chad Summers, the conditioner of Napoloen Solo expressed disappointed in the outcome.
“You want to win races like this. Obviously, going into this race we had a lot of respect for Lindsay and Baby Vino and the work she has done with him. Paco Lopez has been telling me about this horse for a long time now, about how good the horse is,” he said. “The race unfolded the way we thought it might. I thought Irad Ortiz (on Further Ado) floated us wide in the first turn, just kind of race riding a little bit.
“He ends up running second by a half-length after a ding-dong stretch battle where he was bumped two or three times in the stretch and it was enough that the stewards wanted to look at it.
“He (Napoleon Solo) beat a really nice group of horses behind him. To me, this was one of the deepest groups in the Haskell that I can remember from top to bottom. You’re beating some accomplished horses,” Summers continued “And we were a clear second, so I’m proud of him. I don’t think he necessarily loved this track, but I don’t want to make excuses because we all had to run over it.”
Vargas, who honored his local commitments and rode the final two races on the card, was understandably elated.
“I still can’t believe it. I have been coming to Monmouth Park every summer for the past six or seven years and this is the biggest race in New Jersey. To be able to win it is surreal,” said Vargas, who had won three Grade 3s and one Grade 2 races previously. “This is the highlight of my career, for sure. I just hope now my career keeps going up. I showed when I am on the right horse I can get the job done. Now I’m hoping for more opportunities – especially with Baby Vino.”
The moment was not lost on Schultz, who has 60 horses stabled on the Monmouth Park backside.
“It’s huge for our stable. It’s a really big deal. It’s so great for this horse. From the moment he started working we just loved this horse, and to really show what he has is what we do it for,” she said. “Hopefully, there will be more Grade 1 wins to come.”
The top-level win was also a first for both co-owners, who are relatively new in the sport. Isner recently bought a minor share of the colt. Cosmo Stable was started in 2024 with a handful of horses and Baby Vino is their first stakes winner. The 78-year-old Smoky Osborn is the father of Marcus and he had horses in partnerships in the 1980s at Oaklawn Park but they were all claiming horses.
Smoky Osborn said, ‘We went through a few trials with this horse, and Lindsay’s been really great. She brought the horse along. Yesterday morning we went to the barn and I said, ‘I guess we’ll see what kind of horse we’ve got.’ She said, ‘You’ve already got a good horse.’ ”
Schultz was non-committal about what’s next for Baby Vino when the prospect pf the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga Aug. 29 and the Breeders’ Cup Classic were raised.
“Both of those races are far away but we’re thrilled for the opportunity. He’s a nice horse, but this was his biggest effort today. It’s a really big deal to do it in the mud, a surface he’s never been on,” she said. “We’re over the moon.”
