Barn Tour: Bauer updates on his 1st Grade 1 winner, 8 others
In September, when Philip Bauer last was featured in a Barn Tour report, he had a 4-year-old filly who had just won the Grade 3 Locust Grove at Churchill Downs.
“That's probably our biggest win to date,” Bauer said at the time.
That filly was Played Hard, and now she is Bauer’s first Grade 1 winner and first winner of multiple graded stakes after victories this year in the Falls City (G3) and La Troienne (G1).
“Doesn't get much better than that in this game,” Bauer told Horse Racing Nation on Tuesday. “Very fortunate to be able to train her, to get the Grade 1 next to her name. And it's just going to be exciting to see the next few years when she joins the broodmare band with the Rigneys, just to see babies produced and kind of reflect on that moment every time you see it on the page.”
Bauer is a private trainer for Rigney Racing, owned by Louisville, Ky., businessman Richard Rigney and his wife, Tammy.
Bauer is a Louisville native, so it was especially rewarding to get that Grade 1 win at his home track, Churchill Downs, on the Kentucky Oaks undercard.
“If you're going to script the story, I think it doesn't get much better than that,” he said. “It was a very, very special day and one I will never forget.”
As for Played Hard, he said, “this game boils down to the horse, and she's a pretty good one,” Bauer said. “Been able to catch a pretty good rhythm with her, and she's been able to produce some pretty good results for us the last six months. Hopefully, she can finish out the year as strong as we finished the last one, be a part of maybe the older division.”
Bauer said the plan had been for her to run in the Shuvee (G2), won by Nest on Saturday in her 2023 debut.
“She came down with a little sickness the week of entry, so we had to skip that heat,” he said. “She's back to the track now. I think some tentative targets moving forward might be the Personal Ensign (G1, Aug. 25 at Saratoga) or the Locust Grove at Churchill.”
From Saratoga, Bauer discussed what’s next for his others in his stable for HRN’s Barn Tour series.
Skratch Kat. The 4-year-old Arrogate filly is 0-for-3 this year and was third in the Shuvee on Saturday, a week after her prior start. She’s getting a few weeks off and probably will return in Kentucky this fall.
“I think that was one of those deals, you close your eyes and swing at it. I really had no intentions of trying that race with her until things went the wrong way with Played Hard. The racing office notified us that they were struggling to get entries with the race. and Mr. Richard is game to try anything, so I think with us being breeders as well, it was a huge deal to try. And mission accomplished, now she's a Grade 2-placed filly that's by, I think, a stallion that as time goes on will be missed. And you know, on her dam side (Wave Theory, by Smart Strike), she's got plenty of positive pedigree power there. So I think it'll do a lot for her moving forward, and glad that we could kind of take advantage of it.”
Xigera. (Pronounced KEE-gera after the lodge the Rigneys visit for photo safaris.) The 3-year-old Nyquist filly was third in the Alcibiades (G3) last year in her first start after breaking her maiden. She then tried the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, finishing 14th. She’s come back this year with two wins in two starts, most recently scoring in the Tepin Stakes at Ellis Park.
“She was a really nice filly up here that developed for us last summer and got us to the Breeders' Cup,” Bauer said. “Disappointing run that day, but decided to turn her out and let her mature, which she did. She blossomed into a really strong, powerful 3-year-old. Excited the way she started the year off and kind of jumped every hurdle we've thrown at her so far. She'll run in the Saratoga Oaks (G3) on Aug. 4. We're going to give her a little more ground. To me, I think she should be able to handle it, pedigree-wise and just the way she trains. So decided to try that test and see where we fit.”
Anna's Arabesque. The 3-year-old Munnings filly broke her maiden June 29 on her fourth try and then was second last out in the Coronation Cup at Saratoga on July 14. She was “backwards” as a 2-year-old, spending the year at Eddie Woods Stables in Ocala, Fla.
“When he sent her in, she was ready to roll. Had a lot of entry issues early on this year with races in Kentucky as far as the maidens sprinting on the turf. So one of our goals was to try her in the state Derby week. We anticipated that she might be able to break her maiden at the Keeneland meet, but we were excluded from the race. So we just kept to schedule, ran her in the race, was able to run a really good third. And then she had two good races and maidens after that, finally got her maiden broken. Brought her up here and we were proud of her the other day. She ran hard. I think a victim of post position, maybe. Got shuffled back going into the turn and when that happens going five and a half, it's kind of the kiss of death. But was really proud of her the way she rallied, fought to the wire to get second. Probably try the (Galway Stakes) up here on the 12th, the same situation, 3-year-old fillies short on the turf. She acts like she's got plenty of ability, and we've got the 1x in our back pocket you can always jump back to. But running against older up here, you can take advantage of being a 3-year-old, so that's what we'll do.”
Warrior Johny. A 4-year-old gelding by Cairo Prince, he won his 2023 debut in an optional-claiming allowance at Churchill and then was third in the July 2 Hanshin at Ellis Park.
“Warrior Johny has turned out to be a really nice horse for us. Really happy with the way he's starting. He basically was on the same schedule as Played Hard and Xigera. We turned him out for the winter and he really came back nice, a stronger horse. Was pretty impressive his first race off the layoff and then was really pleased with the way he ran at Ellis Park last time. That track was kind of favoring speed all meet. To me, once the race was done, I was pretty happy with his efforts. Brought him up here to Saratoga, he's training great. I think we're going to point toward the condition 3x and see if we can't get the race to go for us. Another building block, I'm sure we'll have to try black type after that. But where, I'm not sure. So hopefully get this condition race to go and get him back in the winner's circle. He likes it up here. He ran one of his better races up here last summer, and I think maturity's a big deal for him. He’s kind of grown into his body.”
Kigali. A 3-year-old gelding by Hard Spun, he broke his maiden June 24 at Ellis and then was sixth in the Quick Call at Saratoga on July 16. He’ll probably start next in a one-other-than allowance toward the end of the meet, Bauer said.
“I think it was a bad decision on my part to run him the other day. I think he's the type of horse that his mind gets in his way. Extremely talented horse, but just not one that kind of does everything on his own mentally. Just scatterbrained, I guess you could say. So we tried castration. That'll work sometimes, it just didn't work with him. He’s still kind of a ball of fire. But has a lot of ability, so just need to manage him better. And I think the race and Ellis proves that he can run, it's just a matter of, I think, circumstances and everything needs to be in his corner. And sometimes maturity helps. So hopefully the older he gets, the better he gets. He seems to be enjoying the time up here. Saratoga, I think horses either love it or hate it, and he's one that's, as far as his weight and conditioning, has done really well up here.”
Little Prankster. The 3-year-old Practical Joke filly has finished second in three career starts, all this year.
“Little Prankster's a very talented filly that, if you would have told me she's run three times and still be a maiden before she ran, I'd have said no, bet against that. She just seemed like one early that every time you breezed her, you knew that she was just really talented. So a little frustrated the way things have gone and her still being a maiden. But she breezed really well yesterday up here. We had skipped an entry, she came down with a skin disease, had a little bit of girth burn and whatnot. So we had idle time with her as far as wearing tack. Up here, you've got to fire your best to be competitive and just wanted to make sure that we did that. So I'm not sure when she'll run next. There's no maiden in book two. So probably have to bide our time with her as well. And when a race does come up for her, I think she'll be ready to run a good one.”
Mariah’s Appeal. The 3-year-old daughter of Distorted Humor has one start, a win by a neck in January at Fair Grounds. “Then she had to go on the shelf,” Bauer said. She’s had two strong works at Saratoga and likely will start in an allowance next.
“She acts like she's the quality of a lot of them that you can hold hope that they'll be black type one day. Nice Distorted Humor filly.”
2-year-olds
Buchu (boo-coo). She’s a Justify filly with one start, a third-place finish at Ellis Park in June.
“I love this little filly. She was actually a homebred that RNA'd at the September sale last year. We didn't get what we wanted for her, so we put her in training and it was pretty exciting when we went to see her in Ocala that she had put on a ton of leg. At the September sale, she was kind of a shorter type. And these horses, they can change overnight. She changed for the good. And we had her entered the other day, no entry luck, drew the AE. And there's a race for Sunday. Hopefully we'll have some better luck then and draw well. Excited to run her. I think she's the type that, she's handled the dirt in the morning, so moreso giving her the mile and a sixteenth for distance. And we'll see where it goes from there. She doesn’t necessarily physically remind me of Xigera, but just maybe hopefully follows the same path she did last year. Obviously with these 2year-olds, you'd love to make the Breeders’ Cup. But they've got to get the maiden out of the way and march forward. So Sunday is going to be a really big big day to determine what the rest of the year holds for her. But she's doing super up here and excited to try.”
Bauer’s other juveniles have “just been a little slower to develop, little hiccups here and there with 2-year-olds. There were some exciting purchases that we made last September that you always hope for, but nobody's named yet or far enough along that you could really say that they're going to be what Buchu, what I hope for her.”