BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE (Edited)
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL—K Johnston Racing, Michael and Jules Iavarone and Hopeless Stables’ multiple stakes-winning 2-year-old Sum of Success, undefeated in three dirt starts, could make his turf debut next month on racing’s biggest stage.
Trainer Bobby Dibona said Sum of Success, a Florida-bred son of Ocala Stud’s Grade 1-winning sprinter Win Win Win, is under consideration for the $1 million Brown Advisory Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (Grade 1) to be run Oct. 30 at Keeneland, contested at one mile around two turns.
Sum of Success has raced exclusively in one-turn dirt races, but a chance to try grass and the shorter distance of the Juvenile Turf compared to the mile-and-one-sixteenth FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) on dirt has the connections leaning in that direction. Dibona aims to work the bay colt over the turf course at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County.
“I didn’t want to go a mile-and-a-sixteenth,” Dibona said. “We always thought he was a turf horse. I still believe that; with his feet and just different things I know. I’m not setting anything in stone, but I’m going to plan a work at Palm Meadows and I’ll bring Luis Saez in to work him and we’ll discuss it after that.”
Sum of Success has won his three starts by 24 ¼ combined lengths at distances ranging from five to seven furlongs including the $150,000 Express Tour on September 5 and the $100,000 In Summation on August 10, both against state-breds. The latter produced a Beyer Speed Figure of 87, ranking in the top 10 for 2-year-olds in the country this year.
Bred in Florida by Liz and Norman Wilson’s Oakleaf Farm in Ocala, Sum of Success is out of the In Summation mare All Summed Up. He has earned $188,400 in his three starts.
“He actually was a little sick during the [last] race and it broke out afterwards. He had to be on some heavy antibiotics and things like that but it looks like we’re doing pretty good. I haven’t trained since he’s ran. I don’t want to feel pressured into doing anything,” Dibona said. “The majority owner [Keith Johnston] is my good friend and his dream is to be in the Breeders’ Cup. I’ve got a good horse. If he turfs, which I believe he will, I think we got a chance.”
Originally from Boston, where he raced at such tracks as Rockingham Park and Suffolk Downs, Dibona has won 511 races and more than $14 million in purses from more than 2,700 starters since 2001. He has trained graded-stakes Actin Good, Hard Enough and still-active Steal Sunshine, who is approaching $1 million in purse earnings, but has never had a Breeders’ Cup starter.
“Obviously for my career, getting on the big stage on Breeders’ Cup Day and everything, there’s a lot to be said for that; just being around those kind and wanting to have people respect you,” Dibona said. “I’ve been blessed. I didn’t grow up in Kentucky with great lineage. I come from a different place and we come up the hard way. We’ve had some good horses, not Breeders’ Cup horses, but we’ve won graded stakes and a lot of stakes and things. Everything’s the hard way.
“I’ve got a great team with me, owners and all my help, a lot of good things,” he added. “I got time and we’ll just let it kind of take shape a little bit and see what we think is best. When you’re around [Sum of Success] in the barn and stuff, he’s a very cool customer. Nothing but class. I hope he can continue to move forward. We’ll just do our thing. Right now we’re doing Okay.”
Return to the September 18 issue of Wire to Wire
