The Week in Review: White Abarrio's Secret Weapon: Groom "Lalo" Diaz

Yesterday at 03:25 PM

We're learning more every day about the relationship between horses and mankind and how people struggling with such things as PTSD so often thrive and recover when working closely with horses. But can it work the other way? Can a human have such a positive and calming effect on a horse that a bond and relationship develops that makes the horse prosper?

In the case of GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational winner White Abarrio (Race Day) and his groom Eduardo (Lalo) Diaz, it looks like that might be the case. After White Abarrio won the $3-million race at Gulfstream by 6 1/4 lengths, the accolades went to the usual suspects, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. and jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. But Joseph knows it's not that simple and told the NBC audience that one of the biggest difference makers in White Abarrio's career has been his groom, Diaz.

“He has an amazing groom,” Joseph said. “He takes amazing care of these horses. He's second to none.”

Sunday morning, it was more of the same.

“Every horse we give him, they are in immaculate condition, they carry good hair, good color,” he said. “He makes a difference, because sometimes you have other grooms whose horses never look as good as Lalo's do. Every horse he gets looks spectacular. Full credit to him. I think the horse thrives being around him and in his environment.

“Lalo has worked for us for seven, eight years and he's just been amazing. He's so calm around the horses. The majority of the Grade I winners we've had, he's been the groom.”

But it's not just that Diaz keeps his horses in immaculate physical condition. Horses can help humans do better, so why can't horses do the same for mankind?

White Abarrio made his first start Sept. 24, 2021 at Gulfstream and won easily for trainer Carlos Perez. C2 Racing Stable and partners swooped in and bought the horse privately after that race and turned him over to Joseph. Joseph had him for his next 12 starts, which included a win in the GI Florida Derby. But he got caught up in licensing issues after two of his horses died in the days before the 2023 GI Kentucky Derby. Neither died from musculoskeletal injuries, but it was not clear if he was going to be allowed to race in New York, where the GI Metropolitan H. was next on White Abarrio's schedule.

That's why he was turned over to Rick Dutrow, and with his new trainer he won the GI Whitney and GI Breeders' Cup Classic. But he tailed off afterwards, running up the track in last year's G1 Saudi Cup and the Met. So the owners went back to Saffie.

After he arrived in his barn at Saratoga, Joseph saw that the horse was not the same one that left him 15 months ago.

“He was just doing OK in Saratoga,” Joseph said. “We got him back at Saratoga and that's not his real stall. His real stall is in Florida. He was edgy. Mentally, he wasn't there. It took a while to get him back.”

Joseph came to the conclusion that the problem was that the horse needed to be around Diaz, who was working with Joseph's Florida division. When he got back to Gulfstream and with Diaz, the old White Abarrio was back. He has gone two-for-three since reuniting with him, winning an allowance and the Pegasus in what may have been the best race of his career.

“That's when the horse really started to make it back, when he got to Florida and was reunited with Lalo,” Joseph said. “That made a really big difference. The relationship with the groom is big.”

While horses are known to calm down people taking part in equine-assisted therapy programs, it seems that the right human can do the same with a horse that can be overanxious. At least that seems to be the case with White Abarrio and Lalo Diaz.

“Abarrio is a horse that, when he gets around crowds, he kind of gets a little restless,” Joseph said. “He kind of becomes arrogant around crowds. He gives you too much nervous energy. With Lalo he calms down and that is because that is Lalo's personality. He is a very calm guy. Very polite. You never see him too high or too low. He carries himself in a manner I truly believe that horses feed off of. Abarrio creates nervous energy himself and Lalo gets him to calm down. He's been a big part of his success.”

Sandman is the Real Deal After All

If I appear on this week's edition of the TDN 'Writers' Room' podcast with a little egg on my face it's because I chastised colleague T.D. Thornton for making Sandman (Tapit) No. 2 in the first 2025 edition of his TDN Derby Top 12 in a recent podcast. I couldn't understand how he could rate Sandman, who was a distant fifth in the GIII Iroquois S. and lost by 5 1/4 lengths in his only other stakes try, the GIII Street Sense S., so highly. I admitted that I had never even heard of the horse.

Looks like T.D. knew something.

In defeat in Saturday's GIII Southwest S. at Oaklawn, Sandman turned in what might have been the best performance by any 3-year-old this year. He broke in a tangle and stumbled badly at the start and looked to be hopelessly out of the race. He was last early and the Equibase chart caller noted that he had lost “several lengths at the start.” Somehow, though, he not only made a race out of it, he closed for second, lost by just a length and probably would have caught race winner Speed King (Volatile) in a couple more strides.

“I tend to like to look at the positives,” said trainer Mark Casse. “I think [jockey] Cristian [Torres] did a tremendous job staying on the horse. That allowed him to give a good performance. He picked up $185,000 for running second. Would I have liked a cleaner trip and a shot to win? Of course. I did a few interviews before the race and when people asked, 'What do you think?' I said that today is the day we find out if he is a man or a boy. He proved he's a man. I look more at the positives and what this means going forward. It's not easy to overcome what he overcame Saturday.”

When asked if he liked Sandman's Derby chances more post-race than he did pre-race, Casse said, “Absolutely, I like his chances more now. All along I've been saying that this is a good horse, but I just hadn't been seeing it. I thought his last race at Oaklawn when he won the allowance race, that's where he got to do what he's always wanted to do and that was to settle a little bit. I thought that was impressive. On Saturday, it was a much tougher field and he passed the test. I feel really good about him so far as heading to the Kentucky Derby.”

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