For trainer Ed Barker, finding his name on the leaderboard for the New York Racing Association's Under 20s Claiming Challenge is a familiar sight.
He's currently fifth in the battle for $80,000 in prize money, and twice in past years he finished on top in a contest geared to reward trainers with small stables of 20 or less horses who race at chilly Aqueduct Racetrack throughout the winter.
Yet this winter there's another leaderboard with Barker's name attached to it.
This one commands far more attention, generating the type of excitement at this point in February that Barker has never experienced in his 28 years as a trainer.
With the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) about 11 weeks away, Barker's name is affixed to Shipsational, owner Iris Smith's son of Midshipman who was second for the veteran trainer in the Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) and with four qualifying points is currently 26th on the list of potential Run for the Roses starters.
"This is something new for me and I'm going to get the most out of this," Barker said. "It's very exciting to have a really talented horse like this. How far we'll go, I don't know, but I'm going to enjoy the ride."
At a time when the 2022 Kentucky Derby has a cloud hanging over it due to Churchill Downs' suspension of trainer Bob Baffert and the inability of his 3-year-olds to run in the opening leg of the Triple Crown, Barker's story offers a much-needed breath of fresh air for the series. If you're looking for a feel-good story for the spring classics, look no further.
Consider that at the golden age of 76 and through 28 years of training, he has yet to win a single graded stakes. He used to own a feed business but became a trainer largely because he was given a racehorse to pay off a bill. He worked without pay for trainer Dennis Brida for a year to learn his new profession. His stable now averages about 20 horses per year on arguably the sport's most competitive circuit in New York and he wants no part of having more than 25 runners under his care. He has just 314 career wins through Feb. 21.
Yet from that humble existence in the sport of kings, Barker finally has, in a New York-bred that was bred by the owners of Genuine Risk, a horse capable of running with, and beating, the graded stakes winners and million-dollar yearlings that have been above his pay grade for decades.
It's an underdog story worthy of Hollywood—if the right ending can be scripted a few months from now.
"If there's ever a blue collar worker in this sport, it's Eddie Barker. So it's great to see him with a Triple Crown horse," said Martin Panza, who instituted the Under 20 contest during his 2013-21 tenure as the senior vice president of racing operations for the New York Racing Association. "It's great that one of the smaller trainers has a nice horse that has made it onto the big stage with graded stakes horses. Racing needs that. It just can't be about the seven or eight big trainers. At the end of the day it shows there's a lot of really good trainers out there and while they may have small stables, they are good horsemen that work hard. It's tremendous to see them succeed and have it pay off for someone like Eddie."
While Shipsational was second in the Feb. 12 Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs, he certainly looked the part of a Triple Crown contender in rallying from eighth in a field of 12 while facing open company for the first time. Though he finished 3 3/4 lengths behind grade 1-placed Classic Causeway , he was sixth at the eighth pole under Hall of Fame rider Javier Castellano and was the only one who displayed a strong late kick in the stretch and cut into the winner's margin in the 1 1/16-mile stakes.
"I thought he ran fabulous. He got into a little trouble getting out of the gate. The guy in the starting gate had his head cocked a little bit and he was behind horses, getting all the dirt. He wasn't in good position on the first turn. On the backside, the horse inside of him carried him out and he was six wide on the final turn," Barker said. "But what really impressed me was the way he finished. Castellano was elated with the way he finished. He said the way (Shipsational) finished, that's exactly what you want. I thought he would run a really good race, but I didn't think I had him 100% cranked up to run his best race."
Off his highly promising 3-year-old debut, the chestnut colt bred by Mr. and Mrs. Bertram Firestone is expected to remain in Florida for the March 12 $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2), a stakes that offers 85 Kentucky Derby qualifying points and will assure the winner of a spot in the Run for the Roses.
"I'm hoping he'll get a lot out of his last race and move up off it in the Tampa Bay Derby. He had a lot of questions to answer in the Sam F. Davis, since it was his first time against open company, first time against graded stakes horses. Could he go two turns? He checked all the boxes," Barker said about the $318,750 earner who has won three of five starts and is the first stakes winner for his 20-year-old Thunder Gulch dam, Regal Approach. "He's a very talented horse, no question, and there were other talented horses in there as well. I never anticipated seeing that many good horses in the field, but that's what you have to expect when you're shooting high."
While the Kentucky Derby is the main objective, the timing of the Tampa Bay Derby can be problematic since it's eight weeks away from the first Saturday in May. That leaves trainers with a tricky decision: Do they train up to the Kentucky Derby or run once more?
Barker said that if Shipsational can amass enough qualifying points to secure a spot in the Kentucky Derby, he'll give Shipsational some time off to have a fresh horse for the classics.
"If he's fortunate enough to be first or second in the Tampa Bay Derby, I'll probably train him up to the Kentucky Derby. He's not an awfully big horse. He's not a Curlin type. He's probably 15.2 or 15.3 hands and probably weighs between 900-1,000 pounds," Barker said. "He's an easy horse to train, so I think with those races under his belt, he'll get a couple of easy weeks and then we'll train him for a month up to the Derby, unless I need more points."
Working with High Point Bloodstock, Barker was impressed enough with Shipsational to purchase him for Smith for $210,000 from the Wavertree Stables consignment at the 2021 Ocala Breeders' Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. The price was relatively steep for Barker, as his most successful horse, the $551,177 earner Yorkiepoo Princess, was bought for $8,000.
Yet since teaming with Smith, Barker has enjoyed a new level of buying power at sales. Smith, a Tony Award-winning producer and founder of Once Upon a Time Productions, is married to natural gas billionaire Michael Smith. A longtime racing fan, Smith has been involved in racing partnerships with Sheila Rosenblum, and about four years ago first teamed with Barker at the advice of her father-in-law Seymour Smith, who had enjoyed success racing a small string of six horses with Barker for about eight years.
"Iris is a very nice person who deserved to get a really good horse," Barker said. "I think we got one for her."
Iris Smith now has six horses with Barker, including the 3-year-old Quality Road colt Triumphant Road, a $475,000 purchase who Barker believes will be an excellent runner on turf.
"Triumphant Road will be as good on turf as Shipsational is on dirt," Barker said.
Barker says he quickly saw the potential in Shipsational. He uses a monitor from Equimetre to monitor his horses' heart rate and measure their stride and received some highly encouraging news after the colt's initial works.
"After a few breezes, the people who own Equimetre (Arioneo) told me Shipsational would go long. I didn't think so. He looked like a sprinter. But they said his stride is 26.2-feet long and the other babies breezing with him were only doing 24 feet and change. That's about a foot and a-half longer than the other babies I have," Barker said. "They were right about him. I know he will go longer. He was just getting in stride around the sixteenth pole in the Sam Davis, and he's out of a Thunder Gulch mare and they run all day."
Shipsational was impressive from day one at the races, winning his July 18 debut at Saratoga Race Course by 6 3/4 lengths. He was then fourth after a rocky opening sixteenth of a mile in the 6 1/2-furlong Funny Cide Stakes Presented by Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital for New York-breds, but then closed out his juvenile campaign with a pair of wins in longer state-bred stakes, the Bertram F. Bongard at seven furlongs and the Sleepy Hollow at a one-turn mile.
After the Oct. 30 Sleepy Hollow, Barker made an important decision. After discussing it with Smith, he decided to break from his mold of spending winters in New York and send Shipsational and three of Smith's other horses to Tampa to find out if he had a Triple Crown contender on his hands. The move has required Barker to fly back and forth from New York to Florida several times this winter, but the Sam F. Davis made all those hours in an airplane seem like a magic carpet ride.
"Shipsational showed so much grit and determination and ran such fast speed figures that I felt he could compete at a higher level. Iris agreed to take a shot and we targeted the Tampa races," Barker said. "I have a good helper down there in Joe Falcone, who has been a great exercise rider for 40 years. He's caring for the horses at Tampa. Without him, I would not have done it."
Barker figures to make a few more trips to Florida over the course of the next month as Shipsational trains toward his date in the Tampa Bay Derby that may define his status as a Triple Crown candidate.
"I hope it works out for Eddie and he gets an opportunity to show what he can do," Panza said. "It would send a great message that when you give a horse to a small trainer, your horse means everything to him and that horse is not going to get lost in the shuffle."
While having a top contender for a 3-year-old race such as the Tampa Bay Derby is a unique experience for Barker, in 2019 he had a very brief fling with Kentucky Derby fever when he sent out Family Biz to finish third in the listed Jerome Stakes and pick up two qualifying points. Unfortunately, the son of Fed Biz was fourth in a Feb. 1 starter optional claimer in his next race and never placed in a stakes again.
Shipsational seems much better positioned to give Barker a more productive and sustained run in stakes company, but with a world of experience around the racetrack and a firm understanding of how turbulent that life can be, he's not taking anything for granted.
"I really believe in this horse. He can do anything. He's got the mind of an older horse and nothing flusters him. He's just a really, really nice horse," Barker said. "But, hey, if we get to the big dance and it doesn't work out, there's always state-bred races."
