Paolucci plans to run pair in Mr. Prospector

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There are only 14 horses nominated to Saturday’s Grade 3 Mr. Prospector, four of whom come out of the same barn and belong to the same owner, Looch Racing Stable’s Ron Paolucci.

Paolucci nominated Mo Don’t Know, Sightforsoreeyes, Storm Advisory, and Uno Mas Modelo to the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector at Gulfstream Park; all four are trained by Anthony Quartarolo.

Paolucci on Sunday said he planned to run two of the four, Storm Advisory and Uno Mas Modelo. Storm Advisory returns to more suitable company after finishing a distant seventh in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap. Uno Mas Modelo exits a stellar performance in which he overcame a horrendous start to register a rather eye-catching nose decision in the Claiming Crown Rapid Transit on opening day of the 2018-19 Gulfstream Park Championship meeting.

“Storm Advisory is a one-turn horse,” Paolucci said. “The last four times we’ve run him around one turn he had two wins and a couple of seconds. I don’t think he’s in the same league as Uno Mas, but you never know.”

Paolucci said he kind of jinxed Uno Mas Modelo just prior to the Rapid Transit and that he remains amazed at how he was able to overcome the adversity to get the victory, which followed a resounding four-length tally in the Bet on Sunshine Stakes four weeks earlier at Churchill Downs.

“I was up here in the grandstand before the race bragging about how good he was in the gate, saying how he’s the best gate horse I’ve ever had, and of course what happens, he stumbled leaving there,” Paolucci said.

Uno Mas Modelo broke a good five lengths behind the field before circling very wide into the stretch and resolutely wearing down the leader in the final strides of the seven-furlong Rapid Transit.

“To make the kind of move he did after that start on a slow track like they ran on that day was unbelievable,” Paolucci said. “I didn’t want to run him in this race, I wanted to wait for the race on Pegasus Day at a mile [Grade 3 Fred Hooper]. But he’s been knocking the barn down, he wants to run, he’s ready, so we’re going to run him.”

Paolucci said he is resisting the temptation to run Mo Don’t Know in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 26.

“I toyed with the idea of running him in the Pegasus,” Paolucci said. “He’s getting close to $1 million in earnings, he’s got 17 wins, and he’s so good around two turns. It’s not out of the realm of possibility I could run him in the Pegasus, but I just don’t think he’s of the same caliber of those horses, so I’ll probably run him in a softer spot on the undercard.”