Buccherino Earns Parx Racing 2025 Horse of the Year After Stakes Dominance

Happy Tenth Stable's Buccherino, the Florida-bred son of Bucchero out of Bellimbusto, was voted Parx Racing's 2025 Horse of the Year at the track's annual Horsemen's Awards Banquet, capping a campaign that saw the bay colt win three stakes, bank $247,300 in a single season, and establish himself as the dominant sprint force at the Bensalem oval.

Trained by Parx Hall of Famer Alfredo Velazquez, Buccherino built his case for the honor across six starts in 2025, winning four times with three of those victories coming in black-type company. His signature win arrived September 20 in the $150,000 Parx Sprint Stakes, where jockey Paco Lopez guided him to a 1 1/2-length triumph in 1:15.41, completing the 6 1/2-furlong event as the 2-1 favorite in a field of nine. Full Moon Madness finished second, Maximus Meridius third, and Damon's Mound fourth. The win pushed his career earnings to $471,800 through 8 wins in 16 lifetime starts.

Lopez left little doubt about the horse's ceiling that afternoon. "He was very comfortable. When I asked him to run, he gave me a big kick. They have done a very good job with this horse," the jockey said.

Earlier in the year, Buccherino had opened his 2025 account with a wire-to-wire effort at Parx on May 5 that produced an Equibase speed figure of 112, the highest mark of his career in the supplied data. He then traveled to Monmouth Park to take the $100,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes on May 26 by a length and a half at six furlongs, earning a figure of 100, before adding the State Representative's Sprint Stakes at Parx on August 19 with a 101 figure. Sandwiched between those victories was a close second to Full Moon Madness in the $100,000 Alapocas Run at Delaware Park in June, a narrow defeat that underscored his consistency without a win. A fourth-place finish in the $102,000 Wolf Hill Stakes on the grass at Monmouth Park in July showed the limits of his versatility; Buccherino is emphatically a dirt sprinter.

The 2025 season also included a second-place finish in the Grade 3 Bold Ruler Stakes at Belmont at the Big A on November 2, where he posted a 96 Equibase figure, demonstrating he could compete at a graded level away from his home base.

Velazquez, whose training career spans four decades, has shaped Buccherino into what one account described as a late-career masterpiece. "I am very happy that he won. This horse shows me 150 percent heart," Velazquez said after a subsequent Parx stakes win. "He is a tough horse. He has been training so good for this. When he is good, like he was today, he keeps going."

Buccherino was purchased as Hip 83 at the OBS April two-year-old sale for $75,000, with Velazquez acting as agent for Happy Tenth Stable. Blue River Bloodstock was the consignor. His dam Bellimbusto, bred by Dorothy Raffa in Florida, raced three years for 4 wins and $63,495, and has already produced a stakes winner in Buccherino's full sister Miss Bellimbusto, who earned $81,840 in her own career.

Through his 2025 season, Buccherino's career record stood at 16 starts, 8 wins including 4 stakes victories, and $471,800 earned. His 6-for-7 record at Parx specifically made him the defining horse of the meeting, and the Horse of the Year vote at the Horsemen's Awards Banquet reflected exactly that.