Bentornato pointing to True North

While trainer Jose D’Angelo continues to be based primarily at the Palm Meadows training center in South Florida, he will be at Saratoga early next month, where he’ll send out 2026 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Bentornato in the Grade 3 True North Stakes on June 6. Bentornato is expected to meet Book’em Danno, who edged him out by a narrow margin in the voting for the 2025 Eclipse Award in the sprint division.

Bentornato has made just one start since the Breeders’ Cup, finishing second to Dark Saffron in the Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan on March 28. Bentornato has prepped for the True North over the past month at Churchill Downs.

“I thought he ran huge coming off the layoff in Dubai, and I like his chances having had that race coming into the True North,” said D’Angelo. “Obviously, we would like to beat Book’em Danno, since he is the horse who beat us out for the Eclipse Award. I thought we had a very good chance to get the award having won the Breeders’ Cup, although both horses had a very good campaign and he was a deserving winner.”

D’Angelo also advised that his other Breeders’ Cup winner, Shisospicy, is currently on the farm following her very disappointing seventh-place finish earlier this month in the Grade 2 Unbridled Sidney Stakes at Churchill. That marked her first start since registering an easy 2 1/2-length victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in her 2025 finale.

“She came back sick after her last race, so we decided to give her some time on the farm,” D’Angelo said. “Right now, the plan is for her to join Bentornato at Saratoga in about another 30 days, with our goal to have her peaking for the Breeders’ Cup, just like last year.”

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.