For Trainer Garcia, No Rushing Success

In spending nearly his entire life around horses, trainer Victor Garcia knows the importance of patience—and that quality proved important when Smooth Roller arrived in his stable.

A third-generation trainer, Garcia had to remind himself as he prepared Smooth Roller for his career debut that sometimes a horse needs time. Garcia said the son of Hard Spun   had three different setbacks before finally making his debut as a 4-year-old this season, a June 27 seven-furlong maiden special weight race at Santa Anita Park that he won by 2 1/2 lengths.

"He showed ability from the beginning (of training). It was frustrating because each time we were so close to running," Garcia said of the setbacks. "Maybe my experience helped me in being patient; sometimes things work out for good."

Of course racing can be all about timing, and Garcia also is not afraid of challenges once his horse is ready. After Smooth Roller rallied from seventh to win that June 27 maiden race, he was stretched out to two turns in his second start, a nose win in an Aug. 1 allowance race at Del Mar. Smooth Roller would not fare as well in his stakes debut, rearing and unseating rider Mike Smith in the gate before the Harry F. Brubaker Stakes Aug. 26 at Del Mar. He then stumbled at the start of the race, but he did rally from last of seven to finish fourth in the one-mile dirt race.

Despite the bad luck, Garcia saw enough to continue to move forward. He would enter Smooth Roller in the $300,750 Awesome Again Stakes (gr. I) Sept. 26 at Santa Anita. That step up in class would pay off for the trainer who initially showed patience with the 4-year-old Hard Spun gelding as Smooth Roller surged to a 5 1/4-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile race.

BALAN: Smooth Roller Runs Away in Awesome Again

"The horse has been good from the beginning; we knew he had a lot of talent," Garcia said. "The best way to find out how much is to just run him. Everybody's been impressed with the horse. That's why we tried the Awesome Again and he won, real impressive too."

In the Awesome Again Smooth Roller passed last year's Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) winner Bayern, who would finish third. That day trainer Bob Baffert sent out Bayern and the race's runner-up, Hoppertunity. Garcia is well aware that Baffert's biggest star of 2015, Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, still awaits along with two-time champion female Beholder in the Classic. Smooth Roller shipped to Keeneland on the same flight as Beholder Oct. 19.

"Now we have to go against Mandella's big filly (Beholder) and Baffert's Triple Crown winner; two superstar horses," Garcia said. "The only way we can find out how good is to run our horse with those guys."

Garcia, 51, was born in Tijuana, Mexico, a third generation horsemen. As a youngster he began working with his father, Juan Garcia, who was known as the King of Caliente after winning about 25 training titles there.

Lucky Charm Stable's Miguel Angel Rubio Fernandez had horses with Garcia's father and moved horses to Victor Garcia's stable after Juan's retirement. The owner picked out and purchased Smooth Roller for $160,000 at the 2012 Keeneland September yearling sale.

At age 24, Victor Garcia made his Breeders' Cup debut with South Point Bloodstock's Approved to Fly, who finished fourth in the 1988 Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) and would later win a grade II race. Garcia has not been back to the Breeders' Cup since, although he served as an assistant to his father again for 13 years during that stretch.

"We have horses in the blood. My grandfather was a trainer at Caliente. My father worked for him and was a jockey. I really was born into the horses. I had uncles that worked at Caliente, another was a rider," Smooth Roller's trainer said. "So the whole family was in the horse business."

Smooth Roller is the first grade I winner for Garcia, who currently has a stable of 17 horses. He's taking his first start in the Classic in stride but wants to do everything he can to ensure his horse is at his best on race day.

"It would mean everything," Garcia said. "I don't know the next time I'll have an opportunity to win a race like this."