George Papaprodromou © Benoit Photo
Trainer George Papaprodromou has come a long way from his roots in Cyprus. The 50-year-old conditioner just finished running a horse in the Breeders’ Cup and is now setting out to defend his title as Top Trainer of the Del Mar fall meet.
Last year Papaprodromou won 11 races during the Bing Crosby Season, enough to capture his first trainers title in Southern California, 22 years after he took over his father’s stable and went out on his own.
“Winning this title helps me to get up in the mornings,” Papaprodromou admits. “Coming from the islands in Cyprus and winning titles in America with all the best trainers and jockeys and horses, it was a good accomplishment. It’s been good for business and it’s a big thing for the staff as well. It makes them look good and they all get pumped up. It was good for everybody, my clients, for everything.”
He’s grateful for the recognition and support but has one regret.
“I wish my father could have been here,” Papaprodromou says of the man who helped him get started training horses in the U.S. “He’s passed and it would have been nice for him to see what we’ve accomplished so far.”
What he’s accomplished is a thriving barn that has surpassed the $2 million mark in earnings five years running. He’s made over $2.6 million this year. Papaprodromou attributes his success to hard work, which his father drilled into him growing up.
“You have to be here every day working in the mornings,” Papaprodromou states. “I’ve got a good team behind me as well. They all work hard. It’s all about teamwork pretty much.”
A walk by Papaprodromou’s barn on the Del Mar backside reveals the trainer’s hands-on approach, be it from checking the legs of his runners to helping ice a horse after a workout.
“Eventually you need to have good horses as well,” Papaprodromou concedes. “I don’t have the kind of horses like Bob (Baffert) has and all those guys with stakes and allowance horses. But we do okay with what we have.”
That’s not to say Papaprodromou has not had his share of good horses in recent years. He saddled his first Breeders’ Cup entry in the 2014 Classic. Imperative ran ninth of 14 horses. It took him eight years to get back to the Breeders’ Cup but he’s had four horses run in the championships in the past five years. They were American Theorem in the 2022 Sprint; Balladeer in the 2023 Turf; Noble Reflection in the 2023 Turf Sprint, and Cabo Spirit in the 2024 Turf here at Del Mar.
Papaprodromou and Cabo Spirit returned to the Breeders’ Cup this year, this time in the Mile. He ran second to last after drifting badly on the backstretch. The son of Pioneerof the Nile has been the star in Papaprodromou’s barn for the past couple of years.
“He looks great, he came out it good,” Papaprodromou says.
As for the 7-year-old gelding coming back next year.
“Probably, I don’t see why not,” Papaprodromou notes. “We’ll see how he finishes this year and go from there. I don’t know yet (if he’ll run again this year). There are a few options we have. We’ll wait and see.”
Papaprodromou has been a Top Ten trainer at Del Mar in recent meets and he finished second to Doug O’Neill at the recently concluded Autumn Meet at Santa Anita. He’s hoping to parlay that into a repeat at Del Mar this fall.
“Everybody’s dream is to win the big races, the Derby, the Breeders’ Cup,” Papaprodromou says when asked what goals he has left to accomplish. “That’s what we’re here for. I just do what we’re doing every day and keep going.”