Fast Anna returns in Sunday allowance

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Kathy Ritvo could have run her 3-year-old Fast Anna in this Saturday’s $75,000 Cherokee Run Stakes. Instead, she’s taking the more conservative route with the promising son of Medaglia d’Oro, who’ll go postward as the odds-on favorite to capture a 6 1/2-furlong first-level allowance Sunday.

A Frank Calabrese homebred whose dam, Dreaming of Anna, won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Fast Anna led throughout to post an easy 2 1/4-length victory in his debut here April 12. Ritvo said the colt had a minor setback shortly thereafter and missed a little training time.

“He’s very talented, so I didn’t want to rush him back,” Ritvo said. “He’s been training great and could have run in the stakes on Saturday. And he probably would have been very competitive in there. But we just wanted to do what’s right by him, take our time, and wait for something else stakes-wise somewhere down the road if all goes well on Sunday.”

Ritvo said she thinks Fast Anna will eventually handle two turns, especially on turf, considering his breeding. His mother won four Grade 3 stakes on grass and finished second in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.

Michael Ritvo gets hot

Fast Anna will be ridden Sunday by Ritvo’s son, Michael, who began his riding career here this spring and has caught fire of late, with 10 victories over the past four weeks. A seven-pound apprentice, he was aboard Fast Anna for his maiden win and also guided Street Rage to a maiden victory for his mother here last weekend.

“I’m really happy with everything that’s been going on lately, but I’m still hungry,” said Michael Ritvo, whose father, Tim, is a former jockey and now the president and general manager of Gulfstream Park. “I’m not close to the point I want to be at, both business-wise and learning-wise. You can ride for 100 years and still learn something new out there every day. I’m glad I made the decision to stay down here this summer.

“My business has been good, and I’ve gotten a lot of support from many of the trainers, like [Gennadi] Dorochenko, Dennis Ward, and, of course, my mom. Everyone has been helping me – all the other riders have been great. Things have been really picking up lately, and, naturally, one of my goals would be to become leading rider here someday.”