Jose D'Angelo

Michael Iavarone builds his stable with one primary objective: to compete on racing's biggest days. With Bentornato (Valiant Minister), that mission has already been accomplished and there are still bigger goals on the horizon. In the seven months since he bought a 25% share in the talented sprinter for $1 million at the Keeneland Championship Sale, Iavarone has gone to the winner's circle for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint and traveled to Dubai to watch his horse put in a tenacious runner-up performance in the G1 Golden Shaheen. This weekend,...

Trainer Jose D'Angelo has confirmed that last year's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Bentornato (Valiant Minister) will make his next start in the GIII True North Stakes on June 6 at Saratoga. That means he will be facing the horse that nosed him out for the sprint championship last year, Book'em Danno (Bucchero). The True North carries a purse of $400,000 and is run at 6 1/2 furlongs. The two have not met since the 2024 G3 Saudi Derby, in which Book'em Danno was second and Bentornato was third. "Book'em...

"I just watched the Breeders' Cup as a fan. Now we're here!" Jose Francisco D'Angelo was overcome with emotion as he spoke with Nick Luck on the NBC broadcast from the winner's circle at Del Mar. Some 3,500 miles away in Caracas, Venezuela, his friends and family were gathered to celebrate as Shisospicy (Mitole) claimed the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, handing D'Angelo his first victory at the World Championships. It turned out the party was just getting started. Roughly 30 minutes later, D'Angelo was back in the winner's circle...

With the $30.5-million Dubai World Cup meeting now less than a week away, a quartet of American-based gallopers took to the Meydan main track Saturday morning to post their final major preparations. Defending G1 Dubai World Cup champion Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) is one of two in the main event for Wathan Racing  (and one of an impressive six runners across the evening) and the 6-year-old tuned up for the 2000-meter feature Saturday, covering a half-mile in :48 2/5, per trainer Brad Cox. "Cooled out great, he's handled the...

The catalogue for the inaugural Inglis Digital USA GI Curlin Florida Derby Sale is now online, offering buyers the chance to participate on the Mar. 28 marquee card of Gulfstream Park's Championship Meet. Bidding will be open through Mar. 23, with the first lot closing at 3 p.m. ET. Sellers with horses entered on the Florida Derby day card will be able to supplement them into the auction for full or percentage sales. Among the entries in the Curlin Florida Derby Sale is Lightning Tones (Tonalist), who is being pointed...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL - With one more million-dollar juvenile bringing its three-day total to a record-tying seven, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training concluded Thursday with its highest-ever gross and increases in both average and median from a year ago. "Gratified, pleased and happy for the consignors," OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski said of the auction's record-setting results. The consignors bring the horses and the quality of the horses that they bring is what brings the prices. So I...

While the war raging in the Middle East has caused uncertainty and danger throughout the region, it appears that most among the group of U.S.-based horses that had been planning on running on the Mar. 28 GI Dubai World Cup card will make the trip to the United Arab Emirates and continue to prepare for one of the world's richest days of racing. "We're making plans and arrangements as if the world were normal," said David Fiske, the racing manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds, which owns Dubai World Cup hopeful Magnitude...

Shisospicy (Mitole), the champion female sprinter of 2025 and GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint heroine, has recovered from infection that forced her to skip last weekend's planned trip to Saudi Arabia. "Shisospicy, she's perfect now," trainer Jose D'Angelo said of the 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard.' "I don't think that we have enough time to prepare in the way that we would like to go to Dubai, so we are on standby with her." Last year's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Bentornato (Valiant Minister), meanwhile, is on schedule to...

The Eclipse-Award winning female sprinter Shisospicy (Mitole) spiked a fever following a recent workout, which will cause her to miss the G2 1351 Turf Sprint scheduled for Feb. 14 in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabian race was supposed to kick off her 2026 campaign, and Shisospicy was scheduled to leave for there on Feb. 2. The Blood-Horse was the first to report the story. "She spiked a little bit of a fever," said Rich Mendez, who heads the Morplay Racing partnership that owns the 4-year-old filly. "If you look at...

Lea Farms' Thunder Chuck (Good Magic) will make his first start beyond 6 1/2 furlongs when he goes postward in the one-mile Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park Saturday. Trainer Jorge Delgado said he is hoping the race is a first step towards a possible trip on the Triple Crown trail for the chestnut gelding. "We're trying to see how far we can get with him. Hopefully, this will be a step to the graded stakes on the route to the Derby," Delgado said. "The horse has been good...

Gold Square's Throckmorton, the even-money favorite, went wire-to-wire to take the Awad Stakes at Aqueduct Sunday. Making his first start on the turf, the bay colt easily took the early lead and was under a snug hold through an opening quarter in :23.26. Let loose at the top of the lane as the half went up in :45.93, he scampered clear with a furlong to run and maintained his advantage to the wire. "When he broke out of there, he was kind of lost because he had the one hole...

It was a huge Breeders' Cup Day for 35-year-old Venezuelan-born trainer Jose D'Angelo, who not only won two races, but won two in a row. The greatest 35 minutes of his training career began with a win by 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Shisospicy (Mitole) in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint and D'Angelo also won the next race, the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, with Florida-bred Bentornato (Valiant Minister). To talk about his Breeders' Cup success story, his background, his plans for the future and more, D'Angelo joined the...