Victor Martinez Gets Lucky With King Guillermo

During his 16 seasons as a Major League Baseball player, Victor Martinez's mantra was "I'd rather be lucky than good."

The statistics bear out that while playing for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, and Detroit Tigers, Martinez was better than lucky; he was very good, compiling a career .295 batting average with 246 home runs and 1,178 RBIs prior to his retirement following the 2018 season.

But luck is playing a role in Martinez's retirement life as King Guillermo, one of the first three Thoroughbreds he bought at last year's Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training is now taking the industry newcomer to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) following a victory in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2).

With two wins and a third from four starts and earnings of $240,350, King Guillermo ranks sixth on the Derby leaderboard with 50 points.

The Uncle Mo  colt is trained by Juan Carlos Avila, who, like Martinez, is a native of Venezuela. So is Samy Camacho, who rode King Guillermo for the first time in the Tampa Bay Derby.

Martinez said he and his wife, Margret, were casual racing fans and had discussed the possibility of horse ownership once he retired from baseball. The couple, who live in Orlando, Fla., with their three daughters and son, also own Victoria's Ranch, a 2,500-acre ranch near Okeechobee, Fla., on which they have some 600 head of cattle.

"My wife and I had always loved horse racing," he explained. "We never bet a lot or anything. We just liked the horses. When I was playing baseball, I never had time to go to tracks, but we always talked about when I retire, we might buy a couple of horses so we could go to Miami and watch them race as something to do and enjoy as a family."

While at OBS, Martinez and his trainer watched the pre-sale under tack show workouts and then went to the barns to inspect horses in which they had an interest.

When King Guillermo, consigned by Gene Recio, agent, failed to sell after not meeting his reserve price, Avila called the consignor to work out a deal.

"I told Juan Carlos to contact them, and he said they had a reserve price of $175,000. I told Juan Carlos to put the guy on the phone, and I told him I only had $150,000. I told them take it or leave, and they decided to sell to me," Martinez said.

Another horse purchased by Martinez at the same sale—3-year-old filly Princess Coro—has yet to break her maiden.

Martinez said there were high expectations for King Guillermo, who is named for his late father, from the outset, but the colt finished sixth as the favorite in his career debut at 5 1/2 furlongs on the main track at Gulfstream Park.

"A lot of people were saying maybe he was a turf horse, and then it looked like they were right when he broke his maiden by a little more than six lengths when he went a mile on turf in his second start," the owner said.

King Guillermo then completed his juvenile campaign with a third-place finish, also at a mile on grass, in the Pulpit Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Despite the colt's affinity for grass racing, Martinez said King Guillermo's workouts on dirt showed he still had main-track potential.

"He was still breezing five furlongs on dirt in :58 and :59 and was doing it nice and easy," he said. "I told Juan Carlos I had a dream of winning the Kentucky Derby and he deserves one more shot on dirt. He said, 'OK,' and I said if he's going on dirt, we need to make sure it's in a race with Derby points. He laughed and said, 'You're the boss.'"

Despite not racing since the Nov. 30 Pulpit, King Guillermo won the Tampa Bay Derby at 49-1 odds, affirming his owner's confidence.

"He has a lot of heart; he is a fighter," Martinez said, noting that former teammates Miguel Cabrera and Anibal Sanchez were among those who called him with congratulations following the victory. "I give all the credit to Juan Carlos. He has been in this business more than 30 years and won nine training championships in Venezuela. He's only been (in the U.S.) for two years, and for him to have a horse in the Derby is pretty amazing."

One of the first items of business for Martinez and Avila following the race was to pay a $6,000 late fee to nominate the colt to the Triple Crown series. The colt will not have another prep before the Derby because he has already shown an ability to win off a layoff.

"I only know about baseball, and now I am just getting to know a little more about the horses," the lucky owner said.