Bentornato stuns in blazing half-mile work
?q=100)
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Bentornato, who has not started since finishing second, beaten a half-length by the 2024 Eclipse Award-winning Straight No Chaser in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, had clockers checking their watches after working four furlongs in 45.09 seconds over a main track that had been back-raked and was listed as good shortly after the second renovation break Friday at Saratoga.
With jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, Bentornato left the half-mile pole full of run, completing his opening quarter in 22.31 before finishing up willingly when asked a tad approaching the wire. He then sustained plenty of momentum into and around the turn, galloping out five furlongs in 58.07 before easing up after six furlongs in an eye-catching 1:11.04.
“We were looking for a strong work from him coming off the layoff but that was crazy,” trainer Jose D’Angelo said afterward. “He can work fast. He did that before last year in California, but I was thinking maybe something around 46 and change this morning. But he did it easily, galloped out very well, too, and the most important thing is he came out of the work good.”
D’Angelo said Ortiz was pleased with the effort as well.
“Irad said the horse is fresh and when he asked him, he responded at the end, then did not get tired on the gallop-out,” D’Angelo added.
D’Angelo said the ultimate goal for Bentornato is a return trip to Del Mar for the BC Sprint on Nov.1.
“We’ll run him once or twice before the Breeders’ Cup, but the plan is to have him ready for his best coming into the Sprint,” D’Angelo said. “Potentially he could start once here before the end of the meet, although nothing definite has been decided yet.”
D’Angelo’s potent stable of stakes-winning sprinters also includes Grade 1 winner Howard Wolowitz, who breezed five furlongs in 1:01.80 over the Oklahoma training track on Thursday, and the lightly raced Gabaldon, runner-up in the 2024 Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot who is scheduled to work Sunday on the main track as a prep for a start in the Grade 3 Mahony Stakes here on Aug. 10.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.