DRF.com
ALBANY, Calif. (May 26, 2022) — Northern California Yearling Sale graduate Camino Del Paraiso has been retired after a 48-race career that began in the autumn of 2015 and ended with a third-place finish in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields last month.
A 9-year-old California-bred gelding, Camino Del Paraiso was recently diagnosed with a minor injury that led to the decision to end his racing career, trainer O.J. Jauregui said on Thursday.
Camino Del Paraiso was nominated for Monday’s $100,000 All American Stakes at Golden Gate Fields and had a five-furlong workout on May 20.
“He ran a good third in the San Francisco Mile,” Jauregui said. “He came out with something small. He’s been a great horse for us.”
In the 14-runner San Francisco Mile, Camino Del Paraiso stalked the pace as a 33-1 outsider, was second in the stretch and was beaten a length by winner Evening Sun.
Jauregui said a factor in the decision to retire Camino Del Paraiso was the uncertainty of how much time would be needed to return to racing. “He’s a 9-year-old,” Jauregui said.
Bred by Red Baron’s Barn and owned by Paradise Road Ranch, Camino Del Paraiso won 9 races and earned $650,332. He raced throughout California and won four stakes, all at Golden Gate Fields as a 7- and 8-year-old – the Joseph Grace Stakes and Rolling Green Stakes in 2020 and 2021.
Camino Del Paraiso was second or third in 14 stakes, including second-place finishes at Santa Anita in the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes at 50-1 in February 2020 and the Grade 3 San Luis Rey Stakes a month later.
“He ran with a lot of the good horses in California and showed he could do it,” Jauregui said. “Sometimes, he was 50-1. He should have made a million dollars.”
Jauregui said Camino Del Paraiso will be retired at a Northern California farm.
The All American Stakes is one of two stakes at Golden Gate Fields this weekend. Sunday’s program is led by the $75,000 Alcatraz Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf. Jauregui plans to start California-bred Highland Ghost, who was second by a nose in the Silky Sullivan Stakes for statebred milers on turf on May 1.