Lovesick Blues Posts 18-1 Bing Crosby Upset

Trainer Librado Barocio does well with experienced Nick Alexander-bred geldings by Grazen. He claimed Johnny Podres, then 6, for $40,000 in 2023 and won two stakes with him. Barocio returned to Alexander to buy Lovesick Blues privately and proceeded to win the $402,000 Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) with the 7-year-old California-bred for the first grade 1 victory of his training career. It wasn't an easy climb. Lovesick Blues brought just one listed stakes victory into the July 26 Del Mar race against a host of graded winners. Not surprisingly, bettors dismissed him at 18-1, giving only two others in the nine-horse field less of a chance. Once the race began, Lovesick Blues didn't take the easy path for a six-furlong sprint. He didn't wing out on the lead and keep going. Instead, he rallied from far back, having to run down nothing less than Hejazi, a horse who cost more than $3 million and hails from the Bob Baffert barn. Hejazi tried the front-running ploy. He sped to the front early under jockey Juan Hernandez, though he always had some company from Roll On Big Joe. Setting fractions of :21.78 and :44.48, Hejazi might have looked vulnerable to other closers such as favored World Record and second-choice Dr. Venkman, but he successfully held them off. What Hejazi couldn't do was withstand the onslaught of Lovesick Blues, who began a move on the outside around the turn from seventh that developed into hurricane force. Under jockey Geovanni Franco, Lovesick Blues swooped past rivals while racing five wide and then in the stretch focused on Hejazi, still on the lead and not showing signs of weakness. Lovesick Blues caught Hejazi past the sixteenth pole and pulled away to score by 1 3/4 lengths, stopping the timer in 1:08.74. Hejazi held on gallantly for second, 1 1/4 lengths ahead of third-place World Record, with Dr. Venkman fourth. An emotional Barocio headed for the winner's circle, but not before breeder Alexander grabbed him in a big bear hug. Alexander may not have owned the gelding any longer, but he couldn't have been happier for the trainer. "We taught him to close," Barocio said. "So when Geovanni was turning for home and circling them, I knew he was running. I picked up my wife—I was going crazy." Barocio races Lovesick Blues in the name of his Mia Familia Racing Stable, a stable that is well named. "It's a blessing to have my family here," Barocio said immediately after the race. He was also quick to thank Alexander and his entire crew. That included Franco, who has ridden Lovesick Blues since Barocio purchased him. In fact, Barocio credited the jockey for pushing the trainer to run Lovesick Blues in the Crosby. Lovesick Blues has done most of his best racing on the turf. Two starts back he became a stakes winner in the May 10 Siren Lure Stakes down the hillside turf course at Santa Anita Park. "I'd only been able to ride him in the grass races, and he excels well on the grass," Franco said. "But as far as working on the main track, he's always dragging me out there. So I told Librado, 'Why not take a chance at the Crosby,' and he responded like the champion he is." Lovesick Blues not only became a grade 1 winner, he earned a berth to the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) with the victor in the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series event, which provides automatic paid entry into the Sprint this fall at Del Mar. He also gave California bragging rights in the Crosby for the third straight year, following The Chosen Vron's back-to-back scores in 2023-24. Alexander bred Lovesick Blues in California from the Ministers Wild Cat mare Queenofhercastle. The mare has done well crossing with the Grazen sire line, as she has also produced 2024 Golden State Juvenile Stakes winner Speedy Wilson, a son of Alexander's Grazen stallion Tough Sunday. Queenofhercastle has one other runner and winner, Dorie Miller, a filly by Grazen who has earned $157,393. Alexander stands Grazen for a 2025 stud fee of $6,000 at Mike Scully and Angie Hager-Scully's Eclipse Thoroughbred Farm near Buellton, Calif. Currently the leading sire in California for 2025, Grazen this year has been represented by four black-type winners, including Sensational Star Stakes winner Lonesome Stew. Grazen has led California's sire list by earnings for the past two years, and his earlier runners include 2021 California-bred Horse of the Year Lieutenant Dan.