New Orleans crew has a love for Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS — There is a little bit of an irony here.

Bill Babin will tell you he is a bankruptcy attorney. Now, here's the punch line. He's also a horseplayer.

"When I decided to buy a horse, everyone told me I would have myself as a client one day," Babin says and he laughs and laughs.

The 64-year-old Babin has a love affair with Saratoga Springs and all that goes with it. The race track, the horses, the betting windows. Here's the kicker. He isn't from the Spa City or Albany or Schenectady or Troy.

Home is New Orleans, but his summers belong to Saratoga. Since 2013, Babin has driven approximately 1,500 miles from the Big Easy to arguably the most popular horse racing town in the country. He rents two houses near the track and spends the entire meet here with friends and family.

"We play golf on Mondays and Tuesdays and we concentrate on the horses Wednesdays through Sundays," Babin said.

This year, though, things are different. He is not just a horseplayer but an owner. He, along with seven of his buddies, will be front and center Saturday with a player in the $1.25 million Grade I Travers Stakes. Babin and his partners are FTGGG Racing and they own Masqueparade, who will run in the Midsummer Derby.

Masqueparade is the first horse they ever owned and they are smack dab in the middle of the biggest race of the meet. Go figure. Some owners go a lifetime and never see the Saratoga paddock as a participant on Travers day.

"It's unbelievable," Babin, who is quick with a smile, said while watching the races at the Spa on Sunday. "First time for all of us. It is just incredible."

As the story goes, Babin approached trainer Al Stall Jr., also a native of  New Orleans, and said he wanted to get involved. The goal was to have a horse that could one day compete in the biggest race of the Saratoga season.

"It really is an unbelievable story," Stall said outside his barn on the Saratoga backstretch. "Here is someone from New Orleans. He wasn't like, 'Let's get something to run at Fair Grounds (in New Orleans).' He wanted something for Saratoga. And, look, he has the mother lode with a chance to run well."

Masqueparade, a son of Upstart, was purchased for $180,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 2019.

Masqueparade got his owners revved up when he won an allowance optional claimer by 11 3/4 lengths on the Kentucky Derby undercard on the first Saturday in May. He didn't really beat much in that race, but his rookie owners got a chance to whoop it up and have a grand old time at Churchill Downs.

He followed that up with a win in the Grade III $500,000 Ohio Derby at Thistledown on June 26 — he beat Travers foes King Fury and Keepmeinmind that day — and the Saratoga dream wasn't a dream anymore. The next stop was the Jim Dandy at the Spa on July 31 and a third-place finish got him a ticket to Saturday.

"When we won (Kentucky) Derby day, I said it was one in a million that our first horse would win on Derby day," Babin said. "When we won the Ohio Derby, I said that was one in two million to do that. Now, running in the Travers, we are probably up to one in three million."

Babin and his partners – Neal Comarda, Jubi Hillery, Steve Landry, Jimmy Lee, Bob Murphy and John O'Shea – all went to Catholic High schools in New Orleans and came up with FTGGG, an acronym for "For the Greater Glory of God." Since they started racing in 2020, they have been in 11 races, eight by Masqueparade and three by Thirtyminutemass, who was claimed in March.

Now it's just the big horse. And the big race is looming.

"He is still a work in progress," said the 59-year-old Stall, who has never started a horse in the Travers. "I don't push horses to make certain races. They take us there and I am fine with it. There has been no extra pressure on this horse, no altering schedules. He has earned a chance. He is an improving 3-year-old."

The horse to beat in the Travers is Essential Quality, who will be the favorite. Stall knows it and so does the FTGGG gang. But they are here. They have a chance. With their first horse.

"I always said we weren't worried about the (Kentucky) Derby," Babin said. "We are Saratoga men. We are in the Travers with our first horse. I don't know how you beat Essential Quality, that horse is so good. We're here. I have said many a prayer thanking the Lord for this experience."