Page 58 - January 2016 Speedhorse

Faith and Perseverance
Juan Tirado’s dedication, hard work and some much-appreciated luck
✞ and blessings have established a top-tier breeding program ✞ by Diane Rice
Juan Alberto Tirado Lizarraga bought his first racehorse 20 years ago for the modest sum of $800. At that time, El Cabresto — for whom his operation, Rancho El Cabresto Inc., is now named — had won four match races.
The gelding’s winning streak extended to
20 races, establishing an undefeated record in southern Sinaloa, Mexico, before he met the agony of defeat in race number 21. “All the races were very emotional and unforgettable moments in my life,” says 49-year-old Juan. They’re meaningful not only because they were wins, but also because Juan’s close-knit extended family attended each race to support him.
In 1999, a friend offered to buy El Cabresto and Juan accepted the offer. “I went to deliver him and I left crying,” Juan says of the horse he’d come to love.
But, he adds, “Maybe God was trying
to soothe me because in that same year and in precisely the same stall where I’d had El Cabresto, I met [trainer] Juan Aleman. He invited me to come to California and offered to take me to see Los Alamitos Race Track.”
Later that year, Juan accepted Aleman’s invitation. He was so awestruck by the horses he saw that he reinvested the $10,000 he’d received from the sale of El Cabresto in a claimer: Showmethedash, by A Classic Dash and out
of Bedaroses. Aleman promptly entered
the 3-year-old filly in a $20,000
claiming race and she was claimed
by Abigail Kawananakoa.
“That’s how I continued in
business — claiming other
horses,” he says.
Juan Tirado with his friend/trainer Juan Aleman. Tirado is receiving the 2010 Owner Special Recognition Award for Rancho El Cabresto Inc. and Aleman is receiving the 2010 Trainer Special Recognition award at the PCQHRA Awards Banquet.
Juan Tirado and 2010 World Champion Apollitical Jess
56 SPEEDHORSE, January 2016