Off an impressive allowance win, Rockies Balboa could start in the Fountain of Youth.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Dale Romans will be hard on the campaign trail this spring trying to win a Senate seat for the state of Kentucky. He’s also hoping he might be on the Kentucky Derby trail at the same time, a dream that gained some momentum here Thursday when Rockies Balboa ran off to an impressive five-length allowance victory in a race restricted to Florida-breds going seven furlongs on the main track.
Thursday’s one-sided triumph, with jockey Junior Alvarado aboard, was the second in a row for Rockies Balboa. The son of Girvin is owned by a partnership group that includes Charles Monfort, who along with his brother Richard, are the principal owners of the Colorado Rockies baseball franchise.
Rockies Balboa came to South Florida a maiden after three starts but showed off a good deal of promise in his second race when earning a 91 Beyer Speed Figure after finishing a solid second to trainer Todd Pletcher’s well-meant first-time starter Local Knowledge in a maiden special weight dash at Keeneland on Oct. 4.
He’s obviously taken a shine to the local surroundings, having won his maiden by 5 3/4 lengths here to close out his 2-year-old campaign before drawing away in similar fashion when facing statebreds for the first time on Thursday.
“He’s a nice colt, he ran a huge race at Keeneland, he’s got a lot of quality and I believe he can run against open company,” Romans said. “I just talked to Junior about whether he thought he will handle two turns and he said he’s ready.”
As for the possibility of moving Rockies Balboa right up out of statebred allowance company into one of the many upcoming Derby preps on the horizon, Romans left little doubt about his intentions.
“We might try some big boys later. You know me, I like to jump right into the deep water,” Romans said with a laugh while adding that a start in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth here later this month was “very possible.”
“This is the first [and only] horse owned by Charlie Monfort, who owns the Colorado Rockies,” Romans noted. “And he’s really getting to like the game. We’ll see what he wants to do and go from there.”
Sassy Princess scored America’s Pastime Stables’ first win in 2026. The now 5-year-old bay mare by Cario Prince out of Rachel Wall by Blame sat mid-pack in the 2nd Race at Aqueduct on January 16th and then jockey Manny Franco had her excel in the final furlong to score a half-length victory in a time of 1:39.89 for the mile. The Starter Allowance win was the fourth of Sassy Princess’ career and her third win with us. Previously trained by Brendan Walsh, Sassy Princess broke her maiden in March of 2024 at Gulfstream Park. Then this past summer she won a $35,000 Claiming Race at Saratoga and was claimed off us. Sassy’s next win came on November 21st in a $17,500 Claimer at Aqueduct where she scored an 11 3/4 length victory. We partnered with trainer Ilkay Kantarmaci and claimed her back following that impressive win. This was her third start in the Kantarmaci barn after finishing second and fourth in the previous two starts.
The 2025 Horse of the Year for America’s Pastime Stables was Unlimitedpotential. Scoring a stable high 3 wins, 1 second and 3 thirds in 11 starts, Unlimitedpotential took home a stable leading $160,418 in earnings. Luis Saez was the top jockey with 4 wins and Ilkay Kantarmaci was the top trainer with 5 wins. Read More here: https://www.americaspastimestables.com/horse-of-the-year/
America’s Pastime Stables has now reached the Winner’s Circle at 20 different tracks. It was also the 9th track we’ve recorded a victory at this year as Heaven Street recorded the win in Friday’s 2nd race Friday at Meadowlands on October 3rd. Fernando Jara was in the reigns as he also recorded his first victory for us. The plan for the Ilkay Kantarmaci trained 6-year-old colt was to straight for the lead in the 5-furlong turf sprint and never look back. Jara did just that and got Heaven Street out of the gate and right to the front. The first quarter went in 22.36 and the half in 44.77 with a final time of 56.08. Shaking free of the competition midway through the turn, we excelled down the stretch to drew clear to win by 1 3/4 lengths. Congratulations to our partners at Madaket Stables on the win. This is our second win with Heaven Street as he recorded a victory in 2023 for us at Keeneland and it’s his 6th win overall in 33 career starts. The plan now for Heaven Street is to head to Maryland and Laurel Park with trainer Timothy Kreiser.
America’s Pastime Stables was formed by people in the baseball industry that also have a passion for horse racing. About 25 miles west of the Saratoga Race Course is Amsterdam, New York. During the months of June and July you will find the Amsterdam Mohawks playing there as the team is run by team president and America’s Pastime Stables managing partner Brian Spagnola. The Mohawks have called Amsterdam home for nearly 25 years, and there you will also find Keith Griffin, Megan Anagnostopulos and Jon Sargalis who are all affiliated with APS working for the team. The team is comprised of college baseball players from all over the country and it has become a summer destination for highly toughed baseball players as 21 have reached the majors and 3 were drafted in the first round over the past 5 years.
Gary Henderson is one of the college baseball coaches who sends his players to Amsterdam and has been at high level programs such as Kentucky, Mississippi State and now Utah where the team will soon be playing its home games at the newly constructed Charlie Monfort Field beginning in 2026.
Going back a year, Spagnola received a call from Henderson in 2024 asking for a silent auction item for the team’s fundraiser dinner. Not that anyone was expecting someone in Utah to bid on it, a VIP Day at the Saratoga Race Course was offered in the off chance someone would be interested. The next day, Spagnola received the call that someone was interested; Charlie Monfort, owner of the Colorado Rockies.
Monfort had a growing interest in horse racing and spent a day in Saratoga with us in 2024. Smokin’ Hot Kitty got us into the Winner’s Circle that day and Monfort even presented a trophy to the winner of a following race.
Following that experience, Monfort wanted to get in the game and get a horse from the start. Partnering with us and Jeff Bloom, we found a horse at the Ocala Breeders’ Spring Sale of Two-Year Olds in Training and found a two-year old Girvin colt out of Toni Ann’s Miracle by Hear No Evil.
The horse was named Rockies Balboa and giving to Eclipse Award winning trainer Dale Romans in Churchill Downs and then shipped to Saratoga.
Rockies Balboa made his debut in Monday’s first race on closing day at Saratoga and ran fifth in a 6-furlong Maiden Special Weight. Jockey Junior Alvarado, who was sporting the new Colorado Rockies inspired Monfort silks said once he gave him a break to catch his breath he reengaged and was impressed by his first effort. Trainer Dale Romans said this was a good experience for him and hopefully he’ll learn how to be a racehorse now.
With the Saratoga meet ending Rockies Balboa will ship over to Churchill Downs and continue training there.
