Trainer Joe Orseno is hopeful Rezasrolex can keep his win streak alive on Friday when the horse returns from a nine-month layoff in the opener at Gulfstream Park.
Rezasrolex has won his last three starts – and five of his last six – coming into the $25,000 starter allowance over 5 1/2 furlongs on Tapeta. His last three wins have come in starter allowances on the synthetic track at Gulfstream. Rezasrolex will be making his first start since Aug. 24.
“I’m not concerned with the time off,” Orseno said. “He had very minor, little things going on. We stopped on him, gave him some time. He’s training fantastic. We expect a big race and we’re using this, hopefully, as a springboard to a stakes at Lone Star Park in the middle of June.”
Rezasrolex is a 4-year-old by Bucchero owned by Robert Cotran.
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“He’s a pretty neat horse, this horse,” Orseno said. “As you can see, he’s 7 for 11. He’s a solid horse. He’s honest.
“When I claimed him he was going long and he beat another horse I had in the race – Tapit Three Times – who I liked a lot. I ran him back long and he didn’t progress and take that next step going long and he kind of leveled out.”
Orseno said he talked to Cotran about moving the horse to one turn.
“He owns a chunk of Bucchero and we like the stallion a lot, and a lot of them are sprinters,” Orseno said. “I said, ‘Let’s let him run to his pedigree. Let’s make him a sprinter.’ ”
Rezasrolex will break from the rail under Edgard Zayas.
Orseno wins at an outstanding 33 percent rate with horses returning from layoffs of more than 180 days. Last week, he sent out And Uwish to win a first-level allowance in his first start since March 2024.
“For me, I don’t like to hear those words, ‘He needed a race,’ ” Orseno said, “because if a horse comes up short and you’re making them run, and they’re very competitive animals and he’s trying, he’s going to overextend and he’s going to end up hurting himself. So, I like to have my horses ready.”
Orseno said patient owners facilitate that objective, which beyond a work pattern calls for a proper foundation.
“I do a lot of open galloping and try to keep them sound and happy for their races,” he said. “When I do that I get a really good bottom into them and plenty of air. It helps if you don’t have pressure over your head.”
In the sixth, Orseno saddles Latch the Hatch in a first-level allowance for Florida-breds at six furlongs on dirt.
“Latch is a young horse that we purchased out of the sale,” he said of the 3-year-old by Curlin’s Honor who races for Cotran and Breeze Easy. “He was a little slow getting ready. We just gave him some time, and he won first time out.
“But it took me a while to get to know him. The way he trains in the morning, I would swear up and down he’s a distance horse and he wants to go long and he’ll run over anything. The truth is, I think I’m finding out now he wants to be a sprinter on the dirt.”
◗ R Pretty Kitty meets winners off a sharp debut score in the eighth race, a first-level allowance for 3-year-old fillies at a mile on dirt.
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