Barn Tour: Antonucci says Arcangelo is figuring it out

Jena Antonucci might be best known at the moment as the trainer of Arcangelo, winner of the Grade 3 Peter Pan and a possible contender in the Belmont Stakes.

But a look at her website indicates her involvement in racing goes well beyond training. There’s a description of her approach to training, as expected, but there’s another tab called Bella Inizio Farm and one called HorseOlogy.

Antonucci explained her operations in a conversation with Horse Racing Nation on Monday

“Before I had gone to the racetrack, all of my business had nothing to do with racing, as far as mares and foaling and breeding and layups and rehabs and all of that, way before racing life,” she said. “So as life has evolved, Bella Inizio has become just more focused on what we breed personally and race personally.”

She got her trainer’s license in 2010 when it was time to run one of the horses from the Ocala, Fla., farm in a race in Tampa.

Today, “Bella Inizio Farm, as life has evolved, is what I breed under and those kinds of things,” she said. “And my personal horses that race not in New York run under Bella Inizio Farm.”

And HorseOlogy?

“HorseOlogy, we'll say, morphed to consume all of my business partners. Basically, we do a lot of layups and rehabs and developing of young horses and such for clients that are trainers. And all that's based out of Ocala. We do a lot of pinhooking as well. And so all of that happens under the Horseology banner.”

Offering various services has allowed Antonucci and her partners to evolve in a changing industry.

“As far as Horseology has been the last couple of years and Bella Inizio, it's scaled up and down a bit. We were fully, fully focused on just racing and then scaled back quite a bit. … And with the industry shifting so much, and then we had COVID sprinkled in there, we leaned into a lot of the background of Horseology throughout that time.”

Since this is a Barn Tour feature, Antonucci also discussed her top horses, starting with her Belmont possibility Arcangelo. The Arrogate colt out of the Tapit mare Modeling broke his maiden on his third try in March before his win by a head in the Peter Pan.

“He's a horse that we've just been super patient with to allow him to get himself together,” Antonucci said. “No surprise, no hidden details, being a May foal and an Arrogate, and, and, and – he just needed some time to come into the zone physically, mentally. We had a lot of expectation or hope that he would show up and do what he did, as he had been building toward something like that. I think it was just the public seeing what we were seeing inside the rope.”

As for his temperament, “He's quite social, he's quite involved, just a lot of energy. And so more than anything, it's just trying to keep all four feet in the ground and letting him focus that energy for good. And I think he's really starting to figure out the competitive aspect of it and what it's about, and I just think he really thrives off of having the opportunity to be competitive.”

And the Belmont?

“It's a great question. We don't know yet. Love that you asked! You know, we're listed in all the possible-probable lists, and we will be breezing this week. And then as long as everything is well coming out of the race, it is a focus. It's the first focus of the races ahead of him, and so he'll need to jump through this last hoop before we make a solid commitment to that.”

Avellino. The 2-year-old daughter of Adios Charlie broke her maiden earlier this month on her second try. “She was one that we actually broke and developed and brought along through HorseOlogy. She was a quirky filly when we first got her, and just allowed her to figure things out and trust in the process. And when we were ready to ship her out to another trainer, I asked (owner and breeder John) Grassi where he wanted her to go and he just said, why don't we keep her inside the program? You guys know her, you know her quirks. Obviously, she's a Florida-bred by Florida sire, so she should be able to check a lot of those boxes for additional opportunities and purse earnings in Florida. So right now, still hanging out in Florida. She's at the farm after breaking her maiden. Getting 30 days as there's really nowhere to run for winners right now. So the plan was always if we could kind of get it done early, just to be able to let her go and hang her head for a month or so and grow up some more after getting her win knocked out.”

Can’t Stop. The 3-year-old daughter of Empire Maker won her May 21 debut, beating the favorite by 5 1/4 lengths. “Can't Stop has made her way to New York. So she's doing very well. Great owners in the Steinmetzes. She just needed some time to get herself together, as her pedigree kind of suggests. And she'll either come back at Belmont or likely Saratoga. … We're pretty pleased with her, not 100 percent committed on surface, believe it or not, I think there's some turf elements to her. So we will assess closely. She's going to come back on dirt or turf, but we're pretty pleased with who she is. And she's got enough spice to look like she wants to be a competitive-type filly.”

Cross Haste. The 4-year-old Cross Traffic colt, owned and bred by GoldMark Farm, won his second start for Antonucci, a Gulfstream claiming race on May 21. “I had long wanted an opportunity to train for GoldMark. So as irony and life would shake out, we have that opportunity now. And so he came back off a long layoff, just needed time and gave him a little bit of class relief last time out, get his confidence up, and he rewarded us for that. So hunting for the right spots for him. Also being a Florida-bred, it makes sense for him to hang out in Florida as long as the racing is there for him to participate. So a nice homebred for GoldMark, and hopefully he'll be able to move forward now off of getting that win.”

Ready Seek Go. The 5-year-old gelding is 1-for-5 this year, picking up a claiming win before finishing third Sunday in a Gulfstream claiming race on turf. “He I think just prefers the poly. We had entered in that spot kind of hoping it would come off (the turf) and it didn't. So getting beat that length and a piece (Sunday) was a good, honest, hard effort. He'll likely stay in Florida. He seems to really be appreciating that surface. And so he's been super-productive, in the money four of his last six starts. So we'll keep him where he's flourishing and then let him hang out in Florida.”

Danzig Chips. The 3-year-old son of Young Brian finished third in his May 4 debut and will try again Saturday at Gulfstream. “Very promising horse. Goldmark, another homebred of theirs. So we're excited to see him come back after getting his first start under his belt, and he's really come forward after that start.”

Dontkissdaminister. The 3-year-old son of Valiant MInister, owned by Craig Steinhart, will make a ninth attempt to break his maiden Saturday at Gulfstream. “Nice, very cool owner. He likes to play in the claiming world. So we claimed him a couple starts back and getting him together, a bit more conditioning and weight and all those kinds of things … and looking forward to hopefully he gets his maiden broke this next start.”