Gulfstream: Reveron will stick to Sam Davis plan

Bob Coglianese

Reveron, with Fernando Jara up, wins the Gulfstream Park Derby.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Augustin Bezara said immediately after Reveron upset the Gulfstream Park Derby here on New Years’ Day that the Grade 3 Holy Bull was not in his plans. And the Venezuelan-born horseman was true to his word.

Reveron is not among the six 3-year-olds entered in Sunday’s one-mile Holy Bull. Instead, Bezara is planning to ship Reveron, a son of Songandaprayer, to Tampa Bay Downs for next Saturday’s Grade 3 Sam F. Davis.

Reveron thrust himself into the Kentucky Derby picture after outgaming Casual Trick by a half-length following a stirring stretch drive to capture the 1 1/16-mile Gulfstream Park Derby. The win was the third in a row for the Calder-based 3-year-old, who closed out his juvenile campaign with a pair of easy seven-furlong victories over his home course.

“I didn’t want to turn him back to a mile and run him around one turn, I want to keep him at two turns, which is why we passed the Holy Bull,” said Bezara, who does not speak English, through his interpreter, Eibar Coa. “But it’s time for him to start earning some graded stakes money, which is why we chose to go to Tampa for the Sam Davis. The surface there is pretty much like the surface he trains over at Calder, and that also went into the decision.”

Reveron has not had any official, recorded workouts since winning the Gulfstream Park Derby, but Bezara said he has sent him out for a couple of slow miles over the past several weeks.

“I don’t like to push my horses too hard between races,” said Bezara. “He will work a half-mile at Calder on Saturday. At the moment I’m very happy with the way he’s been going.”

Bezara has not committed to any races for Reveron beyond the Sam Davis, with his two most likely options either the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth here on Feb. 26 or the Grade  2 Tampa Bay Derby on March  10.

“We’ll see what happens in Tampa first and then go from there,” said Bezara, who confirmed that regular rider Fernando Jara will be aboard Reveron again in the Sam Davis.

Borel leaving after Sunday

Calvin Borel’s south Florida stint will come to an end following Sunday’s program, where he rides Take Charge Indy in a first-level allowance for 3-year-olds. Borel will move his tack to Oaklawn Park beginning Feb. 4.

Borel was only 2 for 50 at Gulfstream entering Saturday’s card and had just one mount both Saturday and Sunday.

“Just wasn’t happy there,” Jerry Hissam, Borel’s agent, said. “Weather was nice, but things didn’t go right.”

Hissam said he has been “pleasantly surprised” by how many phone calls he has already received when news spread that Borel was returning to Oaklawn.

– additional reporting by David Grening