BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Trainer Jose D’Angelo said from his barn in South Florida Friday that Florida-bred Gabaldon came out of his second-place finish in the US$139,000 Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot in good order and is currently in transit back to his base in South Florida.
“He is now at Churchill Downs in quarantine and we’ll return him back to Florida and resume training and see where we go with him,” D’Angelo said. “We don’t know yet [what his next race will be]. I’m going to wait and see how he comes back from Royal Ascot.”
Gabaldon broke like a rocket in the five-furlong Windsor Castle and had a clear lead on his 26 rivals almost immediately while racing on the near side. Gabaldon maintained his lead until eventual winner Ain’t Nobody (Ire) passed him inside the final furlong to win by less than a length. Gabaldon was three-quarters of a length in front of third-place finisher Aviation Time (Ire).
“He ran amazing,” D’Angelo said of Gabaldon. “I was very proud of him and all my team. He showed his talent over there and we lost by almost nothing.
“After the race he was very good and the next day he was doing well. So we’ll start to make plans with him later. Probably the big goal is going to be the Breeders’ Cup [Juvenile Turf Sprint (Grade1)],” D’Angelo said.
The Breeders’ Cup this year will be held at Del Mar race track near San Diego. The $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint will be run at five furlongs on Friday, Nov. 1.
“We will probably have a race before, but we are going to let the horse tell us when he’s ready.”
Gabaldon is owned by Alfonso Soued’s Soldi Stable LLC and he now has earnings of $87,555 from his two races. He won the $110,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Sprint at Gulfstream Park on May 11 in his first career start.
The grey or roan colt is by Pleasant Acres Stallions’ Gone Astray out of Valuable Miss, by Value Plus and was bred in Florida by Carol Ann Reitman, Susan Gannon and Warren Miller.
