Jose D’Angelo Joins the TDN Writers’ Room Podcast Presented by Keeneland

Wandering Eyes · November 5

It was a huge Breeders' Cup Day for 35-year-old Venezuelan-born trainer Jose D'Angelo, who not only won two races, but won two in a row. The greatest 35 minutes of his training career began with a win by 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Shisospicy (Mitole) in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint and D'Angelo also won the next race, the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, with Florida-bred Bentornato (Valiant Minister).

To talk about his Breeders' Cup success story, his background, his plans for the future and more, D'Angelo joined the team on this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. He was the Gainesway Guest of the Week.

Bentornato had only raced once between last year's Sprint, in which he finished second at 28-1, and this year's Sprint. D'Angelo went over his issues and how he had him in peak form last Saturday at Del Mar.

“Our plan was going to the Malibu last year,” he said. “We shipped the horse there, but after the workout, he came back good, but the morning of the race, I saw him a little sore and everything came from the hoof. So I scratched the horse that morning. He could have passed the vet. He could have run, but I felt like it could be costly. Like I can lose the horse on that race. Like probably, you know, this race is going to take more from him.

“I gave him a break and we were ready to come back but sometimes the horses have things that you cannot see. I put on the PET scan, everything was clear, clean, like no fractures, no chips, nothing, just little bumps and bruising. That's normal. So that's why we stopped on the horse. But two months later, when he was training again, he got a splint and we had to stop on him again. That's when we decided to aim for the Breeders' Cup. The owner just said yes and followed my recommendations. We know that it's a tough game. We used the Louisville Thoroughbred Stakes as his prep. I told the owner, 'I promise you the horse is going to need these seven weeks to recover after the layoff and I can train him in the way that I want for the Breeders' Cup.' If you see what I did, I pushed him with hard workouts, strong workouts.”

Bentornato will now be pointed to the GII Riyadh Dirt Sprint in Saudi Arabia. D'Angelo is not sure where Shisospicy will resurface. At the Fasig-Tipton 'Night of the Stars' sale, owner Morplay Racing bought out partner Qatar Racing, paying $5.2 million for the 3-year-old filly.

D'Angelo was among the most successful trainers in Venezuela, following in the footsteps of his father, trainer Francisco D'Angelo. After winning a training title in 2018, D'Angelo came to the U.S. in 2019.

“I was the leading trainer in Venezuela in 2018,” he said. “So that's why I decided to move to USA, to follow my father. He moved here in 2015. To move to the USA, I was trying to follow my dreams and go for the big races here.”

D'Angelo is clearly a trainer on the rise. What are his hopes for his future?

“I learned from the movie of Ruffian,” he said. “They worked on the filly, but they couldn't save her. The next day the trainer had to wake up again and go to work like nothing happened. I'm sure it was an emotional day. I learned that every day you have to work harder, no matter what, no matter whether you win or lose. I just want to work harder and do my best. And the most important thing is to learn. You always have to be open to learning because there are so many people here that have more experience than I do.”

The “Fastest Horse of the Week” was GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}). He got a 111 Beyer figure in his Classic victory. The Fastest Horse of the Week is sponsored by WinStar Farm, home of the sire Audible (Into Mischief).

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by 1/st TV, the KTOB, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders' Association and West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Bill Finley, Zoe Cadman and Randy Moss reviewed all the Breeders' Cup races and discussed the career of Frankie Dettori, who had his last U.S. rides in the Breeders' Cup. There was also a discussion of the “Great Rabbit Controversy” and whether or not Contrary Thinking (Into Mischief) cost Fierceness (City of Light) the win in the Classic. Moss made an interesting point about how poorly the “Win and You're In” horses out of South America fared in the Breeders' Cup and thought the rules need to be tweaked to ensure that horses coming from there will at least be competitive.

Click to listen to the audio of the podcast.