Barn Tour: After a record year, Bauer updates on 9 runners

Last year was Philip Bauer’s 11th year as a trainer, and it was easily his best yet. Nearly $4 million in earnings and four graded-stakes wins, matching his career total at that point. Plus he got his first Grade 1 win and it came at his home track, Churchill Downs.

This year? Well, there’s still time. Not that it’s been terrible, with $1.3 million in earnings and a graded-stakes score.

“I think we kind of set the bar too high last year,” Bauer told Horse Racing Nation on Monday. “And now we’re feeling like it’s not going so well when really, it’s been a fine year. You just take everything in stride. And there’s been some disappointments with some of the runners, I think, that kind of make you feel like it’s a bit dull. But overall, I think everything’s fine. We have a year-end goal we try to reach. It’s within reach. So we’ll see what we can do the second half of the year.”

Without providing specifics of the goal, he said, “it’s just trying to just have something you can target. But the big scheme, it’s so hard to control. You just see where you’re at in stages, as opposed to daily.”

Bauer is a private trainer for Rigney Racing, owned by Louisville, Ky., businessman Richard Rigney and his wife, Tammy. He has 28 horses in training, and he provided updates on nine of them for the latest in HRN’s Barn Tour series.

Buchu. The 3-year-old Justify filly won the Appalachian (G3) in her first start of the year. Then she was sixth in the Edgewood (G2) on the Kentucky Oaks undercard and second most recently in the Regret (G3). “She’s doing great. I think turf racing a lot of times just comes down to trips and all that good stuff. And I think that was the case last race. She was sitting a good trip and then Luis Saez kind of got the jump on us in the far turn with (Pin Up Betty), and (jockey Martin Garcia) just couldn’t get to her in time. So I think timing and trip are a big deal with the horses in a turf race.” She left Churchill Downs on Monday to ship to Aqueduct for the Belmont Oaks (G1).

Halina’s Forte. The 3-year-old Mitole filly opened 2024 with a black-type stakes win at Aqueduct, then was eighth in the Ashland (G1) and fourth in the Eight Belles (G2). She bounced back with an optional-claiming allowance win at Churchill Downs on May 31. She also was shipped to Aqueduct and is entered in the Victory Ride (G3) on Thursday. “I think the last race kind of signaled she’s back on track. We swung at the Ashland, and I don’t know how much we got out of that. We came back in the Eight Belles maybe came up a tad short. So I think we’re back into top form now. And if she runs that race back, she’ll be tough.”

Legadema. The 3-year-old Arrogate filly was third in a black-type stakes at Churchill on June 9 after winning two straight. “I kind of backed up a bit on her after her last race, kind of freshened her up for the second half of the year here, and we’ll see how quick she comes back together. There’s some stuff at Ellis for 3-year-olds and whatnot, but we’re out of conditions, so it’ll be black-type wherever she goes next. And hopefully we can get a win. We were able to get a little overnight stake win up there Prairie Meadows, some more black type here at Churchill. So she’s got a pretty decent resume she’s building on, and she’s a horse that kind of brings her race wherever she goes. So I think hopefully, if we can kind of get her back to top form, we’ll have some fun with her as well.”

Princess Madison. The 3-year-old Speightstown filly broke her maiden with a 7 1/2-length win June 8 on her third try. “She was always one we just had such high hopes for. Took her three starts to do it, but she showed up to where we finally expected her to and broke her maiden in really impressive fashion. So there’s a race on the 19th of July up there at Saratoga that we’re pointing towards, just a 1x, and then if she can repeat that effort, then she’ll be looking at probably a black-type start after that.”

Two Sharp. This 3-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy, a $925,00 purchase as a yearling, debuted Saturday at Churchill and was second by 6 1/2 lengths as the odds-on favorite. “Very talented filly. I think she kind of fooled me on how fit she was going into the race Saturday. She did everything so easy in the mornings that I think it kind of caught up to her with a flat-footed break there. But I was proud of the way she ran and definitely something we can build off of. (She’s) a horse that I think is way more talented than she showed in the maiden start. We’ll take her to New York with us as well and run her up there. Probably another one-turn maiden and see where she takes us from there.”

Xigera. The 4-year-old Nyquist filly was 5-for-6 last year, with two graded wins. This year, she’s 0-for-3 after finishing fifth in the Fleur de Lis (G2) on Saturday, second in the Shawnee (G3) on June 1 and fifth in the La Troienne (G1) on Kentucky Oaks day. “Just a hellacious, disastrous trip (in the Fleur de Lis). You know, she’s had two races this year that are just – one was Mother Nature and then Saturday was just complete assault from other rivals in the race. We haven’t seen her get a fair chance yet, in my opinion, as far as being 100 percent and having a clean trip. So we’re going to regroup and see. The original plan was to go Personal Ensign (G1), but I’m not sure exactly what we’ll do now. She will ship to Saratoga and train up there. It’s just a matter of where she’ll show up next. I think it’s going to take a week or two to discuss things with Mr. Rigney and see kind of where we end up.”

Mighty Madison. The 4-year-old Nyquist filly raced only once last year, a loss in November, came back in May with an allowance loss and then won an allowance on June 5 at Churchill. “There’s a two-other-than up at Saratoga we’re pointing her towards. She was able to win the seven-eighths race the other day, but we’ve been trying to get her something shorter. At Keeneland, the race didn’t go for us and then the race at Churchill, we were just kind of basically forced to run her because we needed to. I think we got lucky with a little bit of a trip there, she got the jump on the field and was able to get the job done. But she’s just been a filly that’s maybe a little more hard-luck than some of the other horses in the barn but certainly talented in her own right. So hopefully we can continue, get her in a good rhythm, get two or three in a row and see how good she is.”

Warrior Johny. The 5-year-old gelded son of Cairo Prince is 0-for-3 this year, finishing fourth in his first start in April followed by two third-place finishes, all in optional-claiming allowances. “He’s going to run in a three-other-than on opening weekend at Saratoga. He’s come back to run two good races at Churchill. He’s as honest as they come.”

Angkor. After opening the year with an optional-claiming allowance win, the 6-year-old gelded son of Anchor Down tried stakes, finishing seventh in the listed Aristides and second in the Kelly’s Landing on Saturday. “Very proud of his effort this past weekend. The Aristides was just a situation where, you know, the horse has tendencies. He prefers to be outside. All the speed didn’t break that day and he broke so sharp he found himself on the lead so he kind of got himself in a trap. … It’s just basically a disastrous trip. So really glad to see him return to form, and he’s a nice horse and got his first bit of black type there as a 6-year-old. So hopefully we keep marching forward. If he keeps running those numbers, he can play in some of those black-type events. I don’t really know what we have next, kind of letting the dust settle and see. But certainly proud of him.”