DEL MAR, Calif. - Despite getting an extra hour’s sleep the night before, trainer Jose D’Angelo still sounded a bit drained from the emotions of the previous afternoon when he returned to his barn early Sunday morning to check on his two Breeders’ Cup winners, Bentornato and Shisospicy.
“It was such an amazing day, so exciting, but there was also so much pressure that goes along with it just getting these horses here,” D’Angelo said. “We were supposed to go out to a party last night to celebrate. Instead, we were so tired, we just stayed in and ate dinner at the hotel.”
D’Angelo reported Sunday that Bentornato, who proved a popular and very impressive winner of the Sprint, and Shisospicy, who gave her trainer his first Breeders’ Cup victory just 40 minutes earlier when equally as dominant in the Turf Sprint, were both doing well.
“Both horses came out of the races in good order,” D’Angelo said. “Shisospicy is already on her way to Kentucky for the sale.”
Shisospicy, who became the first 3-year-old filly to win the Turf Sprint, is scheduled to sell at Monday’s Fasig-Tipton November Sale.
D’Angelo did a fantastic job getting Bentornato back to the Breeders’ Cup in peak form one year after his second-place finish in the 2024 Sprint, considering the physical issues he had to deal with along the way. Those issues ultimately allowed time enough for only a single prep race prior to Bentornato’s eye-catching performance on Saturday, for which he earned a career-best 110 Beyer Speed Figure.
“First of all, I have to thank my whole team. We worked very hard all year to make these races with both these horses,” D’Angelo said. “And of course my owners, especially with Bentornato. We had to stop on him two times since the Malibu, and they never questioned or doubted any of the decisions I made along the way. And fortunately, everything we did with this horse proved right on Saturday.”
Bentornato was owned in totality by the Leon King Stable until the middle of last week, when they offered a 25 percent share of the horse at the Keeneland Championship Sale held in the Del Mar paddock less than 72 hours before the Sprint. A share was purchased for $1 million by Michael and Julia Iavarone, who joined D’Angelo at the press conference immediately after the race.
“What a monumental accomplishment by Jose. Has there ever been a Breeders’ Cup daily double before?,” Michael Iavarone said. “I had reached out about a month ago expressing my interest in buying the horse, but at the time he wasn’t for sale. Then, when I learned from Jose there would be a fractional ownership available, we jumped in. I mean how many times do you get an opportunity to buy into a Breeders’ Cup favorite just three days before the race?”
Bentornato will return on Wednesday to D’Angelo’s main base of operations at the Palm Meadows training center in South Florida, where he will get a little break before being pointed to his first two goals of 2026: the Group 2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in Saudi Arabia in February and the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen early next spring.
“He’ll get a week or so off, then return to light training,” D’Angelo said. “And I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him yet. I believe he can keep improving and improving next season.”
As for Shisospicy, D’Angelo isn’t certain what the future holds.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with the sale. We don’t know who buys her or even if she gets sold for sure,” D’Angelo said. “Obviously I would love to be able to keep training her. She is really an amazing horse. She traveled all around, raced at different racetracks in the U.S. and around the world, and still she just kept improving every single day and was able to become a Breeders’ Cup champion.”
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