Barn Tour: Handal's first graded winner takes him to Ky. Oaks

With Promiseher America’s victory in the Grade 3 Gazelle on Saturday, trainer Ray Handal won his first graded stakes and now has a filly pointed to the Kentucky Oaks (G1) for the first time.

“I’ve done the walk over a few times and worked with (Kenny) McPeek and Tony Dutrow, and I saddled the horse of the Kentucky Derby,” Handal told Horse Racing Nation on Tuesday. “But never as a trainer.”

The Gazelle was Promiseher America’s second win in four starts, all at Aqueduct. She was eighth in her December debut at six furlongs, then second in a January maiden special weight at seven furlongs. In February, she broke her maiden with a 6 1/4-length win at a mile.

In the Gazelle, the American Pharoah filly took the lead at the five-sixteenths pole and won the 1 1/8-mile race by a half-length over Gambling Girl.

“I thought that just the more ground the better,” Handal said.

In the Gazelle, “she was pressed, she was kind of in a tough spot for a lot of the race, being in between horses even though they were going a moderate pace. So she's got a lot of distractions going on, she had a horse to her inside, outside, behind her. And she showed a lot of composure and fight and all those good things, tenacity down the lane to hold everybody off.”

Handal said jockey Jorge Vargas Jr. told him “that every time they ran to her she'd dig in again and dig in again. And if you actually watch the gallop-out, she never let that horse get by her.”

Promiseher America, owned by Hoffman Thoroughbreds and Tom F. McCrocklin, is an easy horse to have in his string, Handal said.

“She's not the most big and flashy horse in the barn. But when you peel her back, she's got all the right parts. She's really built very well, kind of typical of a two-turn type of dirt horse. She doesn't carry a ton of weight, but she's got kind of a sleek build and rangy. I think that's always conducive to two turns because you've got to carry that weight so far.

“And as far as her demeanor, she's just a very chill horse, you wouldn't even know she's in the barn if she wasn't there,” Handal said. “She's just very quiet, sweet and kind of does everything you ask of her in the stall and on the track. She's just a very good girl. She gets very aggressive on breeze day and on race day, but I think she just knows it's game time. But other than that she's really easy to deal with.”

Based in New York, Handal is coming off his best year, with $2.6 million in earnings.

“I think this year's going to be even better,” he said. “We just have a really good group of young horses especially. I really did a lot of buying. I bought a lot of really good young horses at the September sale last fall. So I'm excited about the prospects.

Handal, 34, started training on his own with two horses in 2014 after working as an assistant for Tony Dutrow, who “mentored me and taught me how to be a trainer.”

“He still is like a dad to me,” Handal said. “I still talk to him, and he helps me out when I'm in a pinch with some insight because he's got so much knowledge of the game.”

Handal talked about some of the other promising horses in his stable for the latest installment in HRN’s Barn Tour series.

Gem Mint Ten. This 3-year-old Laoban colt, owned by Adelphi Racing Club and Cutair Racing, broke his maiden at third asking last out after switching to turf and going six furlongs. After the first two losses, Handal said,”I spoke with the Delphi group I said, guys, I think this horse is training is too good to be this bad. Let's try him once on the grass and see how he does before we push the panic button because he is big and beautiful and does everything right. Why don't we give him a shot before we go anywhere else? And he was pretty impressive. He sat off a hot pace and really leveled out nicely down the lane. I love when the horses drop their head like he did and reached and went after those two in front of them. So that was pretty cool.” Handal plans to try longer distances with him and will “probably try some stakes down the line.

Funny How. This 4-year-old daughter of Overanalyze has the same owners as Gem Mint Ten. She had won five straight at Aqueduct before finishing second in the Distaff (G3) on Friday in her first graded stakes. “She's a lovely filly that's been progressing super nicely. We put her up against it. She's answered every test we've thrown at her, so we tried her in open company last time. And I thought she was valiant in defeat in that race. She had to face some adversity, chasing on a slow pace. Mommasgottarun (the winner) got the jump on her. But I think running secondary kind of validated that she's a legit type open-company stake horse, and the plan going forward will be to keep her in that company. The Vagrancy (G3) is coming up in about five weeks from the last race. So that's where we'll probably go with her.”

Timeless Journey. The 6-year-old Verrazano mare had won three of her last four starts before finishing third last out in the listed Top Flight stakes. “She's a nice, solid, New York-bred stake horse again. … She's a pretty legit open-level type horse. She won the (Bigio Rose) very nicely, and it was kind of one of those things where the next New York-bred stake wasn't until the end of May. So we brought her back on three weeks rest, which isn't my favorite move, especially after a big performance. And I thought if we hit the board, it'd be a home run, and she ran super, ran third. And it's really good timing into the rest of the New York-bred stakes for the rest of the year. The Critical Eye is May 29. That's what the next race will be for her. I would imagine she would be pretty tough in there.”

Sweetlou'sgotaces. This 3-year-old Constitution filly broke her maiden in the black-type Tepin Stakes at Aqueduct in November. She then finished ninth in the Sweetest Chant (G3) and tenth in the Herecoesthebride (G3), both at Gulfstream. “We went down to Florida with her this winter. She was a little disappointing in her two stakes races down there so we brought her back home, get her back in a happy routine and try her in a restricted 3-year-old race allowance. Trying to get her confidence back and then get back to stakes company hopefully down the line.”