Carlo Vaccarezza is a new name among trainers in Southern California, but he’s not a racing novice. Far from it. The 68-year-old native of Italy, who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s, sen out 20-1 morning line long shot King Theo to a ninth-place finish in Friday’s $65,000 Santa Anita feature race at one mile on turf, a course over which Vaccarezza has had success in the past, although not as a trainer.

He was the breeder, and his wife, Priscilla, the owner of Florida-bred gelding Little Mike, who posted a 17-1 upset in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita in 2012, when trained by Dale Romans.