By Jessica Martini
Trainer Jena Antonucci teamed up with Alexandra and Brandon Rice for the first time in a pinhooking venture last year and the group enjoyed success right out of the gate when selling an Exchange Rate colt for $550,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Selected 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. Antonucci is hoping for more of the same when the partnership returns to Gulfstream with a pair of juveniles next week. Through the RiceHorse Stables consignment, the group will offer a half-brother by Medaglia d'Oro to G1 Dubai World Cup winner Well Armed (Tiznow) (hip 63) and a New York-bred colt by Malibu Moon (hip 45).
“We were very blessed. We were very fortunate to have a great season,” Antonucci said of their 2017 results. “The Rice team did a great job. We ended up coming out of the sales season with everything sold and sold well.”
She added with a laugh, “We had no complaints, but it's a little more pressure for this year. It was the best-worst thing that could have happened.”
The season certainly couldn't have started much better for the team a year ago. They purchased a gray colt by Exchange Rate for $180,000 at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and, reoffered at Gulfstream as hip 54, the 2-year-old sold to Godolphin for $550,000. Now named Aqabah, he is stakes-placed in England.
Going into the yearling sales last fall, Antonucci said the team maintained the same focus that led to its spring success.
“We recognize that the industry is struggling through the middle when it comes to the business model of pinhooking, so we wanted to be selective and careful in trying to pick horses that would be a little bit more upper end to try and navigate our way through that,” Antonucci said. “This year we had the same mindset, to pick appealing sire power and conformationally correct, strong horses to reinforce their pedigrees.”
Antonucci and partners came home from the sales with four pinhooking prospects. In addition to the two on offer at Gulfstream next Wednesday, they will sell one at the OBS April Sale and one at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale.
“We stayed very focused and very disciplined,” Antonucci said. “It's easy in this environment to want to stretch a little more for this one or that one, but we wanted to have one big horse again and try to have very nice horses to support that horse.”
In the name of her Bella Inizio Farm, Antonucci purchased a Medaglia d'Oro colt for $235,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale. Out of Well Dressed (Notebook), hip 63 is a half to, not only Well Armed, but also to graded stakes winner Witty (Distorted Humor) and Grade I placed Helsinki (Distorted Humor).
“He's a pretty impressive individual,” Antonucci said of the strapping bay colt. “Obviously his pedigree speaks for itself. He's been all class from day one. He's been an absolute pleasure to watch grow up and we're hoping that he goes and does everything that his family says he is supposed to do.”
Bella Inizio Farm purchased a colt by Malibu Moon for $60,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton New York-bred Yearling Sale. Hip 45 is out of Spring Elusion (Elusive Quality), a daughter of multiple stakes winner Autumn Slew (Slew o' Gold).
“The Malibu Moon is a really cool horse,” Antonucci said. “He looks super fast. He's done everything right–early New York-bred 2-year-olds always have an appeal to them.”
Antonucci has been around horses since she was three, working her way through hunter/jumpers, retraining off-track Thoroughbreds, breaking and training at Padua Stables and caring for broodmares and foals. She took out her trainer's license in 2010 and currently has around 30 horses in training.
“The training is my real job,” she said. “That's what I do every day. I have been very lucky to experience all aspects of the business. I've found I'm a really competitive person by nature, so the racing really allows me to find that balance. I love shopping for young horses and watching the dream get built. I think it's a balance with that and staying diversified, mentally and financially, is important in this industry.”
The under tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale will be held Monday beginning at 9 a.m. The sale will be held in the Gulfstream paddock Wednesday beginning at 3 p.m.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
