Vino Rosso’s Baby Vino scales new heights with Haskell (G1) victory

Coming off a double-digit length win in last month’s Pegasus S. at Monmouth Park, Baby Vino stepped up to take on a top-class field in Saturday’s $1 million Haskell S. (G1), and the 3-year-old Vino Rosso colt came away with a thrilling victory over Preakness S. (G1) winner Napoleon Solo.

With a new rider in Jorge Vargas, Jr. and racing on a sloppy surface for the first time, Baby Vino also overcame a tight trip to get the win. He settled into fifth along the rail as the field made its way into the first turn. Napoleon Solo, loose on the lead, got a half-mile in :48.29. In the next quarter-mile, Baby Vino made his way into second, and by the time he turned for home he had slipped up inside of Napoleon Solo to vie for the lead.

Down the stretch the two were locked in a very tight battle, and it wasn’t until the final 50 yards that Baby Vino edged clear to stop the timer in 1:50.18 on the sloppy track.

“This horse can make a run from anywhere,” said trainer Lindsay Schultz, the first female trainer to win the historic race. “We thought the way it set up there would be a lot of speed and he’d sit behind it. But there wasn’t as much speed as we thought and Jorge made that call early in the race.”

Owned by Cosmo Stables and Delta Squad Racing LLC, Baby Vino’s big payday upped his record to 3-2-1 in seven starts, with earnings of $794,916. The bay colt was bred in Kentucky by Lisa Parks.

“Both [the Travers Stakes at Saratoga and the Breeders’ Cup Classic] are far away but we’re thrilled for the opportunity,” Schultz said of the colt’s future plans. “He’s a nice horse, but this was his biggest effort today. It’s a really big deal to do it in the mud, a surface he’s never been on. We’re over the moon.”

Baby Vino is Vino Rosso’s second Grade 1 winner, and one of his seven stakes winners in 2026. Vino Rosso currently second on this year’s Fourth-Crop sire list.