In 2021, trainer Wayne Catalano won one graded stakes race – the Breeders’ Cup Sprint with Aloha West. In 2022, Catalano again came into autumn winless in graded races. That changed quickly. On Oct. 7 at Keeneland, Manny Wah won the Phoenix and now is bound for his second start in the Breeders Cup Sprint. Two days later, Andthewinneris rolled home an impressive winner of the Bourbon Stakes. He starts next in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. When Catalano, a 66-year-old New Orleans native, gets horses to the Breeders’ Cup, they win at an unusually high rate. Catalano is one of only 21 trainers with four or more Breeders’ Cup winners. His have come from only 15 starters, a great strike rate considering how difficult these races are to win. Other trainers with similar Breeders’ Cup win totals have needed 30, 40, 50, 60, even 80 starters to win as many as four. The late, great Bobby Frankel was 6 for 82 in the Breeders’ Cup. “Every once in a while, you get lucky and get some horses to work with,” Catalano said. That sounds like a thinly veiled reference to the fact Catalano’s string, once considerably larger, consists of 20 to 25 horses. The former jockey came up under Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg and worked for him alongside Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Catalano was once an Arlington Park kingpin, winning scads of claiming races training for flamboyant owner Frank Calabrese, and he is closing in on 3,000 winners, his career total standing at 2,958 after the two Grade 2s. His Breeders’ Cup winners, along with Aloha West, are Dreaming of Anna, who won the Juvenile Fillies in 2006; She Be Wild, winner of the 2009 Juvenile Fillies; and Stephanie’s Kitten, who won the 2011 Juvenile Fillies Turf. (Stephanie’s Kitten won the Filly and Mare Turf in 2015 for Chad Brown.) :: BREEDERS’ CUP 2022: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more for each division Catalano still believes Manny Wah might have won the BC Sprint at Keeneland in 2020 with a better trip; as it was, he checked in a troubled fifth. Last Friday, the Phoenix pace collapsed and Manny Wah took advantage, scooting up the rail to score at 17-1. A cold eye says his BC Sprint chance is slim. But Andthewinneris looks serious. Bred and owned by Susan Moulton, Andthewinneris is from Oscar Performance’s first crop and was produced by the Scat Daddy mare Run Like the Boss. He was ready to run early, winning a Keeneland turf sprint in April, and Catalano was set to take the colt to Royal Ascot in June before pulling the plug at the last minute. “Everyone wanted to see Cat in a hat,” Catalano said. With no turf options, Catalano ran the colt six furlongs on dirt July 4 in the Bashford Manor Stakes, won in a romp by the very fast Gulfport. Andthewinneris raced respectably, finishing a distant third, and he was highly regarded enough to go favored next out in the With Anticipation, a Saratoga turf route on July 31. Andthewinneris finished a modest third, but the race was slow-paced and messy, run over a wet course, and Catalano, who never gets discouraged, wasn’t. The Bourbon pace came up hot, the half-mile run in a stamina-sapping 45.81 seconds. Flavien Prat got Andthewinneris into the three path from post 12, settled his mount in the tail of the field, and came wide for the stretch run as Andthewinneris passed seven horses in the last quarter-mile to win, impressively, by 2 3/4 lengths. “He was running by them; it ain’t like they just stopped,” Catalano said. “He recuperated fast from his race. He was screaming and hollering for his feed. He looks great.” Catalano said Andthewinneris trains like he could be a top dirt-route horse, too. “When he goes by you on the rail, he looks pretty good. He’ll work [five furlongs in] 59 and change or a minute in the blink of an eye.” :: Bet the Breeders' Cup with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs. Join DRF Bets. Andthewinneris likely will race on dirt at some point. For now, he’s a grass horse – and maybe a fifth Catalano Breeders’ Cup winner. Silver Knott likely sub It seems like the torch has been passed from Mysterious Night to Silver Knott as Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby’s intended runner in the Juvenile Turf. Mysterious Night was the early Juvenile Turf favorite after his easy Woodbine win in the Grade 1 Summer Stakes, but comments from Appleby two weeks ago threw cold water on Mysterious Night’s participation, and after Silver Knott won the Autumn Stakes on Oct. 8 at Newmarket, he became the Juvenile Turf favorite with British bookmakers. It remains to be seen whether anything coming out of the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket comes to Keeneland. ◗ Packs a Wahlop cemented his position as California’s leading 2-year-old turf route horse with a facile victory Oct. 9 in the Zuma Beach. He’ll come to Keeneland unbeaten in three grass starts. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.