Rispoli returns from injury with Los Alamitos win aboard Faran

Umberto Rispoli turned his first mount back into a statement when he guided Faran to a 1 3/4-length maiden win at Los Alamitos, giving the rider his first victory since Jan. 19 and instantly rejoining the conversation around Southern California’s top barns.

The result mattered because Faran was no ordinary comeback mount. The 3-year-old colt by Not This Time out of Kayce Ace was making his career debut for Zedan Racing Stables and trainer Bob Baffert after being bought for $3.4 million at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. He answered the investment in sharp style, stopping the clock in 1:16.74 and giving Baffert another expensive prospect with immediate stakes potential.

For Rispoli, the win capped a grueling five-month recovery from the spill that changed his winter. He was unseated in the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint on Jan. 24 during Pegasus World Cup Day and later learned he had fractures to his tibia, fibula and ankle, along with ligament damage. He had surgery the next day and another operation about a week later, then spent months rehabbing across Florida, Spain, Dubai and France before resuming exercise rides at Santa Anita on June 12.

That return put him back in position for a fast reentry into the West Coast standings. Rispoli was expected to spend a brief stretch at Ellis Park before shifting his attention to the Del Mar summer meet, which opens July 17 and runs through Sept. 7. That timing is important in a colony where a few weeks can reshape the riding map, especially with Rispoli having led the most recent Del Mar fall meeting with 17 wins, three more than Antonio Fresu, and having been the leading rider at Santa Anita when the injury occurred.

Rispoli’s rebound also underlined how quickly a rider can regain leverage when the right horse lands in the right spot. He won 129 races in 2025 and his mounts earned more than $13.4 million, and his 2025 Preakness victory aboard Journalism gave him his first American classic. Now, after relocating from Hong Kong to Southern California in December 2019 and working back through injury, he is back on the board with a Baffert colt that could point toward bigger races before Del Mar begins.