Gift Box to join Sadler barn, prepare for 2019

ARCADIA, Calif. – Gift Box, fourth in the 2016 Travers Stakes but unraced since a win at Aqueduct in March, has been bought by California-based owners Pete and Kosta Hronis, trainer John Sadler said.

Sadler said Gift Box will join his stable this fall and be pointed for a 2019 campaign at Santa Anita.

“He can be a player in the handicap division,” Sadler said.

Gift Box, 5, was previously owned by W.S. Farish and trained by Chad Brown and has won 3 of 13 starts. A ridgling, Gift Box’s best result in a graded stakes was a third behind Mohaymen in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct in 2015.

Gift Box won an allowance race with a $62,500 claiming option at a mile by 8 3/4 lengths at 2-5 at Aqueduct in March.

Hronis Racing has a deep team of older horses racing this fall, led by the 2018 multiple stakes winners Accelerate and Catalina Cruiser.