Baltas, Freedom Crest Make Most of First Stakes Race

A former Huntington Beach bartender, who won his horse in a claiming shake with another horseman a year and a half ago, took the $200,000 San Pasqual Handicap at Santa Anita on Sunday, the first time either horse or trainer had participated in a stake.

It took him 17 races, but 5-year-old gelding Freedom Crest made the most of his and trainer Richard Baltas’ first stakes’ opportunity, winning the $120,000 first-place money by three lengths over Bosque Redondo. His first stakes win in his pocket, Baltas, 39, is now dreaming the big dream: Next for Freedom Crest will be the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap on March 3.

“This is unbelievable,” Baltas said after Freedom Crest had run 1 1/16 miles in 1:41 4/5. “I’m lucky to have him, but he’s a professional racehorse now. I knew he was ready to run. I schooled him [in the paddock] Saturday, and I couldn’t keep him on the ground.”

The 64th running of the San Pasqual was the right spot for Freedom Crest, who had clicked off two victories late last year at the same distance at Hollywood Park. His seven rivals Sunday were not overflowing with graded stakes wins, and Baltas was able to obtain the services of Gary Stevens, already a four-time San Pasqual winner, when Victor Espinoza, Freedom Crest’s most recent jockey, wound up riding Purely Cozzene, who has earned more than $500,000. Purely Cozzene led the field for three-quarters of a mile before finishing last.

“Gary was a great fit for my horse,” Baltas said. “He’s a rider who likes to sit and stalk and then make his run. He’s the master.”

Freedom Crest broke from the outside post, but Stevens quickly moved him closer to the rail, and they were a handy fourth after the opening half-mile. As Purely Cozzene retreated, Freedom Crest came on. He led Bosque Redondo by a half-length at the eighth pole and then extended his margin.

“I worked him the other morning, and he seemed like a real fighter,” Stevens said. “He just dragged me around there [Sunday] until the eighth pole, and when I turned him loose he exploded. He just did everything professionally.”

The second choice after Bosque Redondo, Freedom Crest paid $7.60 to win. It was his sixth victory, along with six seconds and three thirds, in 18 starts. He had earned $176,810 going into the race.

In his third start, at Hollywood Park on June 10, 1999, Freedom Crest’s original trainer, Tony Diaz, ran him for a $32,000 tag, and Baltas dropped his slip into the claim box. So did trainer Nick Canani, and a shake of the numbered pills sent the horse to Baltas. He made two changes, gelding the colt a week after he got him and taking off his blinkers after two disappointing starts at Del Mar. Since Del Mar, Freedom Crest never has been worse than third in 13 starts for owners Calvin Nguyen and Alex Wong, who are vitamin exporters, and Barbara Choi, who is married to Wong.

A native of Gary, Ind., who grew up in California, Baltas was introduced to racing through his father. Baltas remembers watching Vigors and Spectacular Bid--winners of the Santa Anita Handicap--run. In 1984, he turned in his bartender’s apron and eventually worked a variety of track jobs. He was a groom for trainer Darrell Vienna, a stable foreman for Tom Skiffington in New York and, back in California, an assistant to trainer Richard Mandella.

“I watched [trainer] Charlie Whittingham getting here at 5 o’clock in the morning, because he had a chance to make a million dollars,” Baltas said. “Let me tell you something about this game: They bought [1977 Triple Crown champion] Seattle Slew for only $17,000. The little guy has a chance in this game.”

Baltas has six horses in his barn. This was his first victory of the year. Last year, he won six races, four of them with Freedom Crest.

Bosque Redondo, running for only the sixth time and making his stakes debut, had defeated Freedom Crest in November at Santa Anita, then finished three-quarters of a length behind him at Hollywood Park on Dec. 13.

“I was hoping that the reason [Freedom Crest] beat my horse at Hollywood was because of the track surface,” said Chris McCarron, who rode Bosque Redondo. “But the winner is just getting good. In fact, he’s gotten very good.”

Baltas is not likely to run Freedom Crest in the San Antonio Handicap, another prep for the Santa Anita Handicap, on Feb. 4. The 1 1/4-mile Big ‘Cap will be Freedom Crest’s first try beyond 1 1/16 miles.

“I’m not concerned about the distance,” Baltas said. “After Victor [Espinoza] rode him, he told me that he thought a mile and an eighth or a mile and a quarter wouldn’t be a problem.”

Notes

Kent Desormeaux rode three winners, leaving him two short of 4,000. . . . One winning ticket, worth $660,521, was sold, at Santa Anita, on the pick six. . . . Smart Timing, second to Fantastic Filly in the Miesque at Hollywood Park in November, defeated three other fillies to win the $74,309 Blue Norther Handicap by a head over favored Skatesheba. . . . For the sixth consecutive year, Russell Baze won the Isaac Murphy Award, given by turf writers to the jockey with the highest winning percentage. Baze won at a .272 clip, with 412 wins in 1,513 mounts, to edge Jerry Bailey, who won 246 of 908 mounts for .271.