HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – It’s time to start sorting out the 3-year-olds at Oaklawn, which has been the prepping ground for the winners of nine Triple Crown races since 2004.
J P’s Gusto is the resident measuring stick in Monday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest. Now based in Arkansas after beginning his career in Southern California, he towers over the 11-horse field as a Grade 1 winner of $527,360.
KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail
J P’s Gusto and Jaycito were two of the most accomplished 2-year-olds of last year. Both won Grade 1 races, and both made it to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Yet when both make their 3-year-old debuts this year, and begin their quest to the May 7 Kentucky Derby, they will be doing so without the men who were closest to them last year.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – J P’s Gusto geared up for a start in the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 21, when he breezed six furlongs in hand in 1:15.60 on Monday morning. It was his first local work since arriving in town Wednesday. He went just after 7 a.m. Central.
J P’s Gusto had been based in Southern California with trainer David Hofmans, but last week he was transferred to the care of Oaklawn-based trainer Joe Petalino. A Grade 1 winner of more than $500,000, he is a long-term candidate for the Arkansas Derby on April 16.
J P’s Gusto, one of the nation’s top 3-year-olds, galloped over the Oaklawn surface for the first time Saturday morning and is scheduled to breeze for the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest on either Monday or Tuesday, said his trainer, Joe Petalino.
J P’s Gusto was transferred to Petalino last week after being based with trainer David Hofmans in Southern California. The Southwest is Feb. 21.
KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail
ARCADIA, Calif. – J P’s Gusto, the winner of four sprint stakes and one of the leading 2-year-olds in California last year, will be transferred from trainer David Hofmans to Joe Petalino in Arkansas in coming days, the trainers said on Friday.
J P’s Gusto, a four-time stakes winner last year, is expected to make his 3-year-old debut in the $250,000 Southwest Stakes over a mile at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 21 and will be ridden by Ramon Dominguez, according to Steve Bajer, racing manager for owner John Waken.
Trainer David Hofmans said last week that he was leaning toward the $150,000 San Vicente Stakes over seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Feb. 20, with the Southwest Stakes as a back-up. Bajer said the priority of the two races has been reversed.
J P’s Gusto worked seven furlongs in 1:25.40 on Monday at Santa Anita, preparing for his expected 3-year-old debut in the $250,000 Robert Lewis Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on Feb. 12.
Trainer David Hofmans said that JP’s Gusto worked the final quarter-mile in 23.20 seconds. JP’s Gusto was ridden in the workout by Iggy Puglisi.
“He loves this track,” Hofmans said. “Iggy said he goes so effortlessly over it.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Second last time out in the CashCall Futurity, J P’s Gusto worked an easy half-mile in 48.80 seconds on Wednesday at Santa Anita.
“A nice work,” trainer David Hofmans said. “I’m just waiting for something next month. I haven’t decided which race yet.”
Teaching J P’s Gusto to be a more patient 2-year-old has been a focus for trainer David Hofmans since the colt’s four-race winning streak ended with a second-place finish in the Norfolk Stakes on Oct. 2.
In a seven-furlong workout on Monday in preparation for the BC Juvenile, J P’s Gusto started four lengths behind a workout partner and finished four lengths in front.
“I liked that he relaxed off the other horse,” Hofmans said. “It looked like he galloped out very nicely.”
