BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE (Edited)

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Shisospicy and Bentornato are back in their stalls at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream Park’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, happy and sound, but the Jose D’Angelo-trained Breeders’ Cup champions are hardly going to rest on their laurels.

Both Morplay Racing LLC’s Shisospicy, who rolled to a dazzling front-running victory against the boys in the $920,000 Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint Nov. 1, and Leon King Stable Corp. and Michael and Julia Iavarone’s Bentornato, who directly followed his stablemate into the Del Mar winner’s circle following a front-running virtuoso performance of his own in the $1.84 million Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1), are candidates for major stakes across the globe in 2026.

 

In the direct aftermath of her Breeders’ Cup triumph for Rich and Josh Mendez’s Morplay Racing and Qatar Racing, Shisospicy was sent to the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale, where she was bought back by Morplay Racing for $5 million and returned to D’Angelo for a 2026 campaign.

Shisospicy, who debuted with a 16 ¼-length victory at Gulfstream in October 2024, kicked off her 2025 season with a second-place finish at Oaklawn in the $150,000 Mockingbird Stakes before a front-running two-and-three-quarters-length victory in a first level, $75,000 optional claiming at Gulfstream in February. Her only loss in five subsequent starts came in June at Royal Ascot, where she finished far back in the Group 1 Commonwealth.

“She has an invitation to Hong Kong and there’s also Saudi, but after the Breeders’ Cup, she went through the sale and it was a long day for her,” D’Angelo said. He then noted a firm plan for the 3-year-old daughter of Mitole won’t be made until she has had the time to rest and recover.

“We’ll figure it out later,” he said. 

Shisospicy, who prepped for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint with a victory in the Sept. 6 Music City (G2) at Kentucky Downs in her first start since June, was in complete command from the start to the finish the five-furlong turf sprint at Del Mar under Irad Ortiz Jr.

“I was very confident in her. She did everything perfect in preparation for that race,” D’Angelo said. “Her last workout was just three furlongs, easy, because I wanted to put more speed into her. She has a lot of speed, but I wanted to make sure she broke good from the gate. It worked out perfect.”

Plans for Bentornato are considerably more definite. The $2 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint on the Feb. 14 Saudi Cup undercard at King Abdulaziz Racecourse is the primary goal for the Florida-bred 4-year-old ridgling.

Bentornato, who was beaten by a half length while finishing second behind Straight No Chaser in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, shook off early pressure from the defending champion and drew off to win by 2 ½ lengths under Ortiz in this year’s edition. The son of Valiant Minister had run only once this year, scoring by 5 ¼ lengths in the Sept. 13 Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes at Churchill Downs.

“People don’t know all the problems. I had to put him on a diet because he put on so much weight. I had to go step by step, because he’s a good horse,” D’Angelo said. “I had to push him to get him ready.”

Bentornato certainly has been worth the extra work that goes into training such a robust horse.

“He’s everything you want in a horse,” D’Angelo said.

A native of Caracas, Venezuela, where he followed in the footsteps of his father Kiko to become a trainer, D’Angelo ventured to Gulfstream Park in 2019 and has steadily established himself as an up-and-coming trainer, not only in South Florida, but in New York and Kentucky. Saturday, Nov. 1 was a career day for the 35-year-old horseman.

“We want to win every day, but all the year we plan for the Breeders’ Cup,” said D’Angelo, who is tied atop the trainer standings at the current Sunshine Meet that runs through Nov. 23 with perennial champion Saffie Joseph Jr. with 22 wins.  

Return to the November 6 issue of Wire to Wire