Barn Tour: Amid a downturn, Bauer looks for bright spots

Well, they can’t all be good years, as trainer Phil Bauer can attest.

After career highs in earnings and graded-stakes wins in 2023, things have settled down a bit for Bauer, a private trainer for Rigney Racing, owned by Louisville, Ky., businessman Richard Rigney and his wife, Tammy.

Earnings fell to $1.9 million last year from $3.2 million the year before, and Bauer posted only one graded-stakes win last year, with Halina’s Forte in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss. This year, Bauer’s record is 59: 6-13-6 with just under a $1 million in earnings.

“Haven't been very many bright spots lately, but ups and downs of horse racing,” Bauer said.

He and Rigney also decided not to try their hand at Saratoga this year.

“It was a hard decision, but we just struggled all year to try to catch some traction. But it just didn't happen,” Bauer said. “Injuries and then just horses that we thought would kind of improve didn't. And just one of those years that you're waiting on somebody to kind of step up, and 2-year-olds were really backwards. It was a hard decision, but I think when you look at it from a business standpoint, you just had to bow out. We just felt like we would go up there and just spin our wheels. Certainly missed it, but I think hopefully in the long run it will be the right decision.”

Bauer has 25 horses at his Churchill Downs base, down a bit from his usual 28. He is in California this week with Tam Tam, who is entered in the Del Mar Oaks (G1) on Saturday.

The 3-year-old filly by Medaglia d’Oro is “kind of the bright spot in the barn this year,” Bauer said. “She's just been a different horse since we switched her to the turf, and (she) continued to get better with most of her starts.”

Tam Tam was 0-for-3 as a 2-year-old, all on dirt. This year, with five starts on turf, she has 3-1-1 record, winning the listed Sanibel Island Stakes at Gulfstream Park in March, then second in the Edgewood (G2) and third in the Regret (G3) before a 5 3/4-length win in the listed Tepin Stakes at Churchill on June 27.

“Her last effort was stellar,” Bauer said. “Swinging at the Grade 1 out here. She shipped in Saturday night and had an easy day (Sunday) and just jogged (Monday), so we'll turn her around and gallop her (Tuesday). But she settled in well and happy enough how she shipped. So jumped that hurdle so far and looks like she fits pretty well on paper, so I'm excited to see if we can't get a Grade 1 for her.”

Bauer recognizes that “there’s a lot more money offered back in Kentucky next month,” but he and Rigney decided the Del Mar Oaks would be a better move for their breeding program.

“In recent years, we felt like we had some horses that had Grade 1 ability but couldn't get it on their resume. So with her being 3 and only a couple more options for Grade 1s for those, we said let's target it and see, one, will she take us there, which she did, and two, you've got to take advantage of their 3-year-old season, and she's doing really good. So that was the thought process.”

One possibility for Kentucky Downs, Bauer said, could be Johny’s Rendezvous. The 4-year-old gelding by Ghostzapper is 1-for-5 this year, his win coming in an optional-claiming allowance at Churchill in June.

“There's a good three-other-than for him there. He's starting to put things together, running his better races, so I think he'd fit well in that spot.”

Another possibility is Clairita, a 4-year-old filly by Gun Runner. She’s 2-for-6 for her career, with all starts on dirt. She won a Churchill Downs allowance two back and was fifth last out in the black-type Mari Hulman George Memorial Handicap at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

“We might try her on the grass, see if we can't find a different avenue for her.”

Moonlight Dash, a 4-year-old filly by Maclean’s Music, has two seconds from two allowance starts this year and was under consideration for Kentucky Downs, but Bauer opted for an allowance Friday at Ellis Park. “We like that spot for her, but she's half to Donegal Momentum, who was Grade 1-placed on the grass, so we'll keep that in the back pocket if we need it. But there's a race for her at the end of the Churchill meet if for some reason she doesn't win Friday.”

Also possible at the Churchill Downs fall meet is Lincoln’s Law, a 3-year-old Rigney homebred by Liam’s Map who didn’t race last year and has a record this year of 4: 1-2-0. “We were going to swing at a race at Saratoga a couple weeks ago, but he came up a little foot sore out of his last breeze, so we had to back up on him. At this point we're pointing towards … a race at Churchill, just an a-other-than to try and get him back some momentum going. The horse possesses some ability, and I think he would have been a really good 2-year-old. He's kind of on the smaller side, but he fractured a foot in Ocala, so he missed his 2-year-old year. But he's pretty honest. His numbers are very consistent. He needs to step it up a little bit facing winners, but I think he's able to do it if we can just get him in a good rhythm. He'll have a breeze this weekend and get back on the work tab and see where we go from there.”

And then there’s Zero Absolute, a 3-year-old filly also by Liam’s Map who has yet to break her maiden after four starts, all this year. She was second in two maiden special weights but finished 11th last out stretching out 1 1/16 miles at Ellis Park. “I thought she was really primed for a good effort last out. She's a massive filly, and we figured the two turns would be a non-issue. But we were certainly wrong on that. She put a couple of good races together but felt like visually maybe we were running her off her feet because she would finish but she wouldn't really kind of explode down the lane. So we thought maybe if we could let the race come to her a little bit, going two turns, that she would finish a little better for us. She decided to stop at the quarter pole, so we'll regroup with her. I guess we'll just turn her back to one turn again and see if we can't get her maiden broke.”

“It's another one of those horses that it seems like this year there's been a few of them that you're pretty high on when you lead them over there and they just leave you scratching your head. … It's horse racing, right? But generally, you feel like you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. And there's been more than one occasion this year that you just tell Mr. Rigney, ‘I don't know.’ ”

Bauer, who’s been training with Rigney for 13 years, said the owner is “very, very patient. We joke sometimes, when you're on a losing streak and whatnot, that he's good at taking punches. But no, he really is. He takes everything in stride.

“And I think the longer we do this, the more we realize that you got to celebrate the highlights. I think for a minute there, we kind of got – not that we were taking things for granted – but we were on a pretty good run and maybe didn't savor the higher-quality victories as long as we should. You live and you learn, and I think as long as you educate yourself, it's maybe easier to get through times like this.”