by Mike Curry
Churchill Downs might seem like a world away to most horsemen from the Dominican Republic but on Friday at the Louisville track trainer Rafael Ramos and owner Jose Acero will realize a lifelong dream when they saddle Awesome Chic for the $500,000 Kentucky Oaks (G1).
Acero’s father, Jose Acero Sr., had a special affinity for fillies as a prominent breeder in the Dominican Republic and he passed that along to both his son and Ramos, who started working for the Acero family as a 14-year-old in 1967 and was raised as one of their own children.
The elder Acero passed away 30 years ago Friday and his son calls the 1 1/8-mile race for three-year-old fillies “a dream of three.”
“The dream of some people is to win the [Kentucky] Derby (G1),” Acero said. “My dream, my father’s dream, and Rafael’s dream is to win the Oaks."
Acero’s parents, Jose Sr. and Lucia Teresa, emigrated from Spain to the Dominican Republic in 1955, and Jose Jr. was born the following year.
“I had my first horse when I passed the second grade and have been involved in horses ever since,” said Acero, who credited God, his immediate family, and his parents for his success. “The last day of my father’s life was spent on the farm. This is a passion completely, something that I truly love.”
After honing his horsemanship skills with the Acero family, Ramos went out on his own as a trainer in 1972 and won with his first starter. The victories accumulated rapidly for the Santo Domingo native as he won more than 2,300 races in the Dominican Republic, including 200 stakes races, and amassed ten leading trainer titles.
He moved to the United States on September 22, 2005, at the behest of his good friend Acero, who owned and raced horses in the United States since the early 1990s, including Fortunate Joe, a multiple stakes-placed winner of $274,721 who was named horse of the meet at Calder Race Course in 1994.
Acero experienced moderate success in the United States, but he hoped to kick start his racing operation with the trainer he trusted more than any other.
After a stint as a hotwalker for trainer Timothy Ritvo while Ramos waited for his working papers, he got his trainer’s license on August 24, 2006.
“He knows the horses, almost speaks with the horses,” Acero said. “He was very disciplined and waited for his turn, and when his time came, he started as a trainer and in his first complete season at Suffolk Downs, he won the title as outstanding trainer. Everything I can say about him is he is the best person that I ever met.”
Ramos did not miss a beat in the transition to racing in the United States. He has 87 winners from 419 starters for a 21% winning percentage.
“I’m very satisfied that I have been able to carry over my success,” said Ramos, who credits his family with helping him succeed. “But I still think I can improve and do better. I’m still learning my way around here and we have made plans to acquire better horses, and hopefully start racing at other major tracks.”
Ramos picked out two fillies at the 2007 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. spring sale of two-year-olds in training, and Acero chose Awesome Chic because her pedigree closely mirrored that of '07 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Rags to Riches, who is by A.P. Indy out of a Deputy Minister mare. Awesome Chic is by the Deputy Minister stallion Awesome Again out of the A.P. Indy mare Trading. Awesome Chic is from the female family of Grade 1 winner and influential sire Seeking the Gold.
Awesome Chic won her career debut by 17 1/2 lengths at Suffolk Downs on November 5 and subsequently finished third in the Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on December 29.
“One of her biggest assets in her temperament,” Ramos said. “She’s very professional, very calm. You can ask her to do whatever you want her to do. That’s one of the things I always look for in a horse is temperament, and then I formulate my training style according to the temperament of the horse. She’s a joy to be around.”
She opened her three-year-old campaign with a half-length score in the Gasparilla Stakes on January 19 at Tampa. After a third-place finish in the Darley Ocala Breeders’ Sale Sprint Stakes on February 11, she bounced back with a 4 1/2-length victory in the Florida Oaks (G3) on March 15.
“The filly is not too big, she is a Formula One with twin turbines,” Acero said of the 15.2-hands chestnut filly with a white blaze across her face. “So when you see her, you don’t think that filly can do what she does.”
Robby Albarado picked up the mount in the Oaks on Awesome Chic, who might be overlooked on Friday, but not because of her stature. The Kentucky Oaks drew Grade 1 winners Country Star, Golden Doc A, and Little Belle as well as multiple Grade 2 winners Bsharpsonata and Proud Spell.
Acero will donate 10% of the purse money Awesome Chic earns in the Oaks to The Robby Albarado Foundation, which benefits homeless and economically disadvantaged people in Louisiana.
Reaching the Oaks is a reward for Acero’s and Ramos’s passion for the craft of horsemanship and drive to succeed. Both men agree that a victory would be the perfect finish to a lifelong "dream of three."
“This has been an unbelievable experience,” Ramos said. “From all the places I have been, Churchill Downs seems to me like the horse-racing paradise.
“Friday, May 2, is of double importance because it is the day Mr. Acero, who raised me, died 30 years ago. I know he’ll be watching from heaven, and he’ll do his best to make sure this filly wins the race.”
Mike Curry is Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor