Reeves, Ritvo could have another star

MIAMI – Can lightning strike again for owner Dean Reeves and trainer Kathy Ritvo?

Seven years after going on a dream run that culminated with a victory in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic with Mucho Macho Man, Reeves and Ritvo have themselves another exciting young prospect in the undefeated 2-year-old Isolate. Isolate is perfect in two starts, including a 10-length allowance victory going six furlongs Sept. 12 at Gulfstream Park.

Isolate showed off a little of that talent immediately after the renovation break Saturday morning at Gulfstream Park, working four furlongs in 46.79 seconds, picking up some unexpected company along the way before galloping out five-eighths in 1:00.39 while finishing into the teeth of a pretty strong headwind down the stretch with Ritvo’s son Michael aboard.

“I can’t believe he caught that other horse so easily,” Kathy Ritvo said later that morning. “I was surprised he even saw him from so far away. Michael said he wasn’t even asking him, he just leveled his head out and did it so nice and easy.”

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Ritvo said while it’s still a little too early to make comparisons between Isolate and Mucho Macho Man on the track, she can certainly see major similarities between the two in the morning.

“He reminds me of Mucho Macho Man the way he is around the barn and the way he works,” Ritvo said. “You can ask him to go a half in 46 and change like we did this morning or a half in 54 like we did last week and he’ll do it for you just like that. He’s doing all the right things, maturing nice and easy, and has a good mind, which I love. He’s just such an easy horse to manage.”

Ritvo has no specific race in mind for Isolate’s next start, although she is looking out of town at something in either New York or Kentucky over the next several weeks.

“I’d like to stretch him out to a mile or farther next time,” Ritvo said. “He needs one more race to bridge the gap before we get to the 3-year-old stakes here next winter.”

While Isolate is the top prospect in the Reeves/Ritvo stable right now, they do have another promising 2-year-old in the barn, Raison d’Air, a 13 1/2-length maiden special weight winner going a mile late this summer at Gulfstream Park.

Raison d’Air is coming off a fourth-place finish making his stakes debut in the seven-furlong Armed Forces, originally scheduled for the turf but ultimately decided over a sloppy main track.

“He’s definitely better than what he showed last time,” Ritvo said. “He didn’t break great and had to rush up over the sloppy track. I can wait to run him now for a while, but hopefully he’ll also wind up being good enough to compete in the bigger stakes for 3-year-olds down here this winter.”

Prolific claimers square off

Monday’s nine-race holiday card is topped by a first-level allowance and optional claimer for 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs on the main track that lured a field of seven. Among the key contenders are Vinnie Van Go and Mozo Bello, who between them have won 13 races, with both eligible for the race by virtue of running for a $25,000 claiming tag.

Vinnie Van Go has been claimed for $25,000 out of each of his last four starts and will run out of trainer Bob Hess Jr.’s barn Monday. A wet track will definitely favor Vinnie Van Go, who captured a similarly conditioned race restricted to Florida-breds two starts back by a widening 6 1/2 lengths over a sloppy surface at Gulfstream Park.

Mozo Bello also changed hands last time, claimed for $16,000 by his current trainer, Ruben Gracida, out of a winning effort, which also came against statebreds Sept. 11 at Gulfstream Park.