![\"Lovesick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/6aebe8_c251dbd02b8a482aa9ea249b48a18c9e~mv2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe veteran campaigner for Mia Familia Racing Stable stunned the field at Del Mar, earning an automatic berth into the GI Breeders\u2019 Cup Sprint this November<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lovesick Blues Hands Giovanni Franco an Unforgettable Victory \/ BENOIT PHOTO<\/p>\n
DEL MAR, California (Special for Turf Diario).- Sometimes, even the impossible finds a way. Saturday was one of those unforgettable afternoons at Del Mar for trainer\/owner\u00a0Librado Barocio\u00a0and jockey\u00a0Giovanni Franco, as the duo captured the biggest victory of their careers with the 7-year-old veteran\u00a0Lovesick Blues\u00a0in the\u00a0GI Bing Crosby S., earning a coveted spot in the\u00a0GI Breeders\u2019 Cup Sprint\u00a0to be run Nov. 1 over the same course.<\/p>\n
In a stunning performance, the gray son of\u00a0Grazen\u2014who had been competing on turf\u2014stormed down the center of the track with a relentless late rally to mow down pacesetter\u00a0Hejazi\u00a0(Bernardini) by 1 3\/4 lengths. Favored\u00a0World Record(Gun Runner) checked in third, another 1 1\/4 lengths back, unable to meet expectations.<\/p>\n
It was around the final turn that\u00a0Lovesick Blues\u00a0began to unleash his powerful stride, making steady progress while Franco sat chilly. Once tipped into the clear in the lane, the Cal-bred took command and pulled away decisively, stopping the clock in a solid 1:08.74 for six furlongs after fractions of :21.78 and :44.48.<\/p>\n
“I knew when he broke well that we had a shot,” said Barocio, who also owns\u00a0Mia Familia Racing Stable. “We\u2019ve been working on getting him to close, and when Giovanni started to ask him around the turn, I could see he was loaded. I started screaming\u2014I picked up my wife\u2014it was a miracle!” he laughed, overwhelmed with emotion.<\/p>\n
For\u00a0Franco, the win marked a career-defining milestone: “I\u2019ve always believed in this horse. Around the turn, it felt like a morning breeze. In the stretch, once I asked him, he just took off. I had only ridden him on turf before, but every time I worked him on the main track, he loved it. I told Librado, \u2018Why not give it a shot?\u2019 He gave me my first stakes win when I came back, and now my first Grade I. I\u2019m grateful.”<\/p>\n
Now a winner of 9 of 41 starts,\u00a0Lovesick Blues\u00a0has amassed earnings of $770,000, with $240,000 coming from this unlikely triumph in the 80th running of the\u00a0Bing Crosby. The race was part of the Breeders\u2019 Cup\u00a0Win and You\u2019re Inseries, guaranteeing the gelding a spot in the Sprint on the sport\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n
Earlier on the card,\u00a0Pushiness\u00a0(Kantharos) took the\u00a0Daisycutter H.\u00a0at five furlongs on turf for\u00a0Repole Stable, setting the pace and narrowly holding off\u00a0Uncorked\u00a0(Pierro) by a nose. Ridden by\u00a0Juan Hern\u00e1ndez\u00a0and trained by\u00a0Mike McCarthy, the 4-year-old filly earned her fifth win from 11 starts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The veteran campaigner for Mia Familia Racing Stable stunned the field at Del Mar, earning an automatic berth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-27539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}