Barn Tour: Catalano looks for another Breeders' Cup upset

Wayne Catalano is making slow but steady progress to hit a career milestone of 3,000 wins. He started the year with 2,938 and has added 20 wins to that total.

With only about 20 horses in training, "it's kind of hard," to amass many wins, Catalano told Horse Racing Nation Tuesday.

But there's also the quality-over-quantity factor to consider. Two of those wins last weekend were his biggest of the year and put him on the road to the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland, his home track.

On Friday, Manny Wah won the Phoenix (G2), an automatic qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Sprint. Then on Sunday, Andthewinneris won the Bourbon (G2), a win-and-you're-in for the Juvenile Turf. Those were his only two graded-stakes wins so far this year.

Catalano won the Breeders' Cup Sprint last year with Aloha West. If Manny Wah wins this year, Catalano would become only the second trainer to win the race in back-to back years with different horses. Jenine Sahadi accomplished the feat in the mid-'90s. Peter Miller and Bob Baffert have won the race back to back, but they had the same horse each time. 

Catalano discussed the two contenders – both of whom are owned by Susan Moulton – and others in his stable for the latest in HRN’s Barn Tour series.

Manny Wah. He’s a 6-year-old son of Will Take Charge, and he won the Phoenix at 17-1 after dueling with Long Range Toddy to overtake him by a neck. “We’re happy with, obviously, his performance. And he's a barn favorite and people's favorite. He's a beautiful little horse, and he ran a big race. And we're so proud of him, at the age of 6 running like that.”

The Phoenix was his first win since January 2021 and his only graded-stakes score, although “we should have won the Breeders Cup the year before last, but that's another story. He's had a few (cases of) bad racing luck,” Catalano said.

“We loved him going into the race. He was coming off a big performance. He had a nice big high Beyer number (95). He was rounding into form right in time for this big race that he ran.”

Manny Wah was fifth in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, also at Keeneland, after being “bumped by his inner rival into his outer counterpart,” according to the Equibase chart.

Andthewinneris. The son of Oscar Performance won the Bourbon by 2 3/4 lengths after moving from the 10-1 sixth choice on the morning line to the 4-1 favorite at post time. Catalano told Keeneland’s media team that the movement was because “he was training like a monster – and that was on the dirt.

In his previous start, Andthewinneris was third in the With Anticipation (G3). “He’s a nice young horse, has shown a lot of promise. Ran a nice race at Saratoga leading up to this race. Got a two-turn race under his belt. It was a real soft track and a speed bias, no pace. And it was kind of a springboard into this race. And he ran like he was training.”

“He’s a happy boy,” Catalano said. “He does good. He's just a young boy, likes to play a little bit but trains very well.”

Aloha West. Last year’s surprise winner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint has had three starts since, finishing fourth in the Churchill Downs (G1) on the Kentucky Derby undercard and fourth in the Met Mile (G1) before winning by a head in a listed stakes at Churchill in July. Then the 5-year-old got “a little freshening,” Catalano said, before returning to the tab on Thursday, breezing four furlongs at Churchill Downs in 50.20 seconds. He was expected to work again Wednesday, Catalano said, but the trainer had no plans for his next start.

Aztec Nights. This 2-year-old daughter of Sharp Azteca won her debut on turf at Saratoga but is 0-for-2 since, with her last start coming on dirt.

She’s a “nice little filly,” Catalano said. “I'd like to have gotten back on the turf. We were unlucky not to draw into the win-and-you're-in for the Breeders’ Cup Turf. But she’s doing good, I expect her to run well next time, at the end of the month.”

Tap in Formation. The 2-year-old gelded son of Tapiture won his debut at Ellis Park in August then was fourth in an allowance optional claiming race at Keeneland on Saturday.

“Tap in Formation got a little unlucky the other day. I thought he could win the race, but he got knocked around leaving there pretty good. And he didn't like it, didn't perform well in the race. But he came back good. So we'll just draw a line through that one, that's what I say – the jockey said the same. He's got a lot of talent, we're very high on the horse. We just have to get him back in the races and see what happens from there.”

Catalano expects he’ll return in an allowance race in about three weeks.