In equestrian sports race horses are the core around which everything revolves. If the horse is in good health and shape you have won the half race. Before next month’s Travers Stakes, Jena Antonucci is looking after her three-year-old colt Arcangelo. Last month she became the first female trainer to win a triple crown race and Arcangelo was the one who gave her the win.

The Blue Rose Farm’s worth more than a million dollar colt is now busy running at Saratoga Race Course in preparation for next month’s Grade 1 stakes. The owners, trainer, and the jockey Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, have high hopes for Arcangelo.

Arcangelo all set for Travers

The trainer Jena Antonucci arrived at the Oklahoma Training Track on the 21st of this month to join Arcangelo and start training. Since then she has been with him at Saratoga and aims to remain till Travers Stakes. Speaking on the three-year-old colt she said, “He loves it. We’re so blessed with him, he doesn’t seem to care what’s underneath him“. The colt seems to have familiarized himself with the Saratoga track. She further said, “He handles it beautifully. Facilities has done a great job of keeping it very consistent and he’s thriving off of that.”

Arcangelo is working on a ten-day schedule as opposed to the seven-day schedule which is a common norm. Sharing her observation on the schedule the trainer said, “You have to pay attention to your horse and understand who they are. This horse just needs that space because with his cruising speed and how he trains, he’s thrived on more of a 10-day schedule. My job is to listen and stay out of his way“.

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The trainer also shared that the colt will run on the track two more times before the $1.25 million stakes. She said her job is to make him happy and maintains his strength.

Arcangelo: carrying forward the Belmont Form

The Belmont stakes was Arcangelo’s second stakes win after Gulf Stream but it was a first for both the jockey and the trainer. For Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, it was the only medal that was missing from his career which he won that day. For the trainer, she became the first woman to win a triple crown race. Arcangelo won the one-and-a-half mile race in  2:29.23. Remembering that moment Jena said, “He was great. It was a beautiful work. Javier was very pleased.” This year the colt has had four starts in which he won three adding $1,054,800 to his total career earning of $1,067,400.

It is a rare feat for the colt and trainer and with the kind of training they are conducting he remains one of the favorites at Travers Stakes.

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