DEL MAR, Calif. - After briefly celebrating his first Breeders’ Cup winner with Shisospicy in the Turf Sprint, trainer Jose D’Angelo Jr. returned with a pretty good encore just 40 minutes later by sending out Bentornato to a popular and convincing 2 1/4-length victory over Imagination Saturday at Del Mar in the $2 million Sprint.
Bentornato’s performance culminated a long year of waiting for D’Angelo, who declared his horse would come back to Del Mar bigger and better than ever following his second-place finish behind Straight No Chaser in the 2024 Sprint. The following year has been fraught with stops and starts along the way and included only one prep race, a scintillating 5 1/4-length triumph in the Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes at Churchill Downs just seven weeks ago.
Bentornato broke alertly from post position 10 under Irad Ortiz Jr. and struck the front for the first time after an eighth of a mile into the six-furlong Sprint. Bentornato controlled the pace from that point, while he was stalked by last year’s nemesis, Straight No Chaser, into the stretch. He disposed of Straight No Chaser when roused at the head of the lane before pulling away in the final furlong.
Imagination put himself in the Sprint picture after returning from an eight-month layoff to win the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship in impressive fashion five weeks ago. He rated off the early leaders, angled five wide commencing his bid into the stretch, lugged in while moving to easy striking position through midstretch, but proved no match for the winner while narrowly holding off the late-running Dr. Venkman. American Stage finished fourth.
Kopion’s connections opted to bypass the Filly and Mare Sprint, a race in which she figured to go postward a solid favorite, to compete against the boys in the Sprint. She was never a serious factor, finishing fifth after breaking from the rail and getting shuffled back near the rear of the field in the run down the backstretch. She was followed, in turn, by Lovesick Blues, a tiring Straight No Chaser, Big City Lights, Nakatomi, Mullikin, Whatchatalkinabout, Banishing, Patriot Spirit and Mad House.
Bentornato is owned in partnership by Leon King Stable Corp along with their new partners, Michael and Julia Iavarone. The Iavarones purchased a 25 percent share in the horse for $1 million at the Keeneland Championship Sale held in the Del Mar paddock just three days ago.
Bentornato covered the distance in 1:08.20 over a fast track and paid $5.40.
“I’m so happy right now, I cannot describe how I feel,” D’Angelo said when asked about just having saddled two Breeders’ Cup winners back to back. “We worked so hard to come back here with him, had to stop on him twice during the year, and he responded so well. He’s a big horse with a big heart and he showed that off today.”
D’Angelo said he was extremely confident watching the race as it unfolded, even with the defending champion breathing down his horse’s neck for the opening half-mile of the Sprint.
“Last year when we ran against Straight No Chaser, our horse was a 3-year-old. Now he’s an older, bigger, stronger horse, so I was not worried this time,” D’Angelo said.
Ortiz echoed D’Angelo’s sentiments about his level of confidence during the running of the race.
“He was doing so good coming into the race, we were so positive on this horse,” Ortiz said. “I rode him with so much confidence. I just wanted a clean break, we got it, and after that I just let him be him. He has so much natural speed. I let him be there (on the lead), I knew I was going to have some horse left at the end, and he did the rest.”
Trainer Bob Baffert said he started to get excited as Imagination launched his bid into the stretch.
“Unfortunately he (Bentornato) kept going. He didn’t come back to us. I’m happy with his effort. He has been training really well. This was his second time off the layoff, so it was pretty good.”
Trainer Richard Mandella acknowledged after the post position draw that he was concerned when Kopion drew the rail and reiterated those thoughts after the race.
“She had a pretty rough trip, which we figured probably would happen after the post draw.”
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