Making his return to Kentucky for the first time since breaking his maiden impressively on debut in November, BARNES proved he loves the bluegrass with the Zedan Racing runner won the Perryville S. (G3) at Keeneland by a dominant 8 ¼ lengths.

BARNES went off as the second choice and quickly made noise out of the gate in the seven-furlong race when pushing the leading Taylor’s Version. It was a tightly packed field with all the horses within about two lengths of each other and BARNES keeping Taylor’s Version honest.

Midway through the turn, BARNES headed the leader and after racing alongside him had a clear lead coming into the stretch. BARNES only got a few taps to stay focused, never asked for his very best as he raced well clear of the field.

“Today I talked to (trainer) Bob (Baffert) earlier, and he wanted me to break out of there very aggressive and put him forward. The horse helped me and I did just that. He finished the race running. I was very happy with the performance. He was ready today. I want to thank the owner (Zedan Racing Stables) and Bob for giving me the opportunity to ride this amazing horse,” said Jose Ortiz

Trained by Bob Baffert to three victories and two other top three finishes, BARNES also won this year’s San Vicente S. (G2), was second in the San Felipe S. (G2), and third in the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1) this summer.

Purchased for $3.2 million by Zedan as a yearling from Indian Creek, BARNES is the first foal out of American Pharoah’s All American Dream. That mare is a half-sister to the stakes winner and multiple Grade 2-placed Wind Fire and stakes placed Bloodline.

Wind Fire has gone on to produce the stakes placed Air Force Jet while another half-sister is the dam of Grade 3 winner Shidabhuti and stakes placed Knox Court. BARNES third dam is the incompariable Dream Supreme.

In addition to winning two Grade 1s, Dream Supreme produced three stakes winners and two other stakes placed runners, led by the Hopeful S. (G1) winner Majestic Warrior. In all, BARNES is one of 21 stakes performers under his first three dams.

It’s been a successful fall for Zedan Racing with BRANT winning the Del Mar Futurity (G1) in September and JUDE garnering Thoroughbred Daily News Rising Star honors last week.