Gunnevera probably runs next in Florida Derby

Peacock Racing Stable’s Gunnevera exited his 5 ¾-length triumph in Saturday’s Xpressbet.com $400,000 Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream Park “happy and sound,” reported trainer Antonio Sano Sunday morning.

“He’s very good this morning, 100 percent sound,” said Sano, whose stable is based at Gulfstream Park West. “He’s very good, the horse.”

Gunnevera, who rallied from last in a field of 10 to capture the important prep for the $1 million XpressBet.com Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream April 1 and the Triple Crown, currently tops the leader board for the Road to the Kentucky Derby with 64 points, including the 50 points the 3-year-old son of Dialed In earned while prevailing over runner-up Practical Joke, a multiple Grade 1 winner who finished a half-length ahead of third-place finisher Three Rules.

“It was very exciting. The horse demonstrated that he was the best horse in the race,” Sano said. “Right now, the horse has demonstrated he’s the best, to me.”

Gunnevera finished second behind Irish War Cry in the $350,000 Lambholm South Holy Bull (G2) at Gulfstream Park Feb. 4 when his momentum was interrupted by a bumping incident on the turn into the homestretch.

Jockey Javier Castellano bolsters Sano’s confidence in Gunnevera’s future on the Triple Crown campaign.

“Javier is a friend of mine. He’s very confident in the horse,” said Sano, who saddled Gunnevera for off-the-pace victories in the Saratoga Special (G2) and the $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot (G3) last year.

“He’s a very strong closer.”

Sano said Gunnevera was ’90 percent” to run next in the Florida Derby, which was won last year by Nyquist in preparation for his victory in the Kentucky Derby.

Chad Brown reported via text that Practical Joke “looked good so far” Sunday morning at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream Park’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, noting there are “no plans moving forward yet.”

The son of Into Mischief, who added Grade 1 wins in the Hopeful and Champagne last season, raced for the first time Saturday since his troubled third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Santa Anita Nov. 5.

Shade Three Thoroughbreds, Tom Fitzgerald and Geoff Roy’s Three Rules was also doing well following the Fountain of Youth, his second start at 3 following a runner-up finish in the seven-furlong Swale (G2) Feb. 4 at Gulfstream in his sophomore debut.

 

Trainer Jose Pinchin was impressed with the performance of Three Rules, who finished third by 6 ¼ lengths but just a half-length behind Practical Joke after dueling with the multiple Grade 1 winner down the stretch.

 

“He came out of it good,” Pinchin said. “I thought he ran a very good race. I thought he ran very well considering the track was slow and he didn’t get a break. [Irish War Cry] really went with him the first five furlongs, and Gunnevera passed him but he stuck with [Practical Joke]. It was a good run.”

 

Pinchin said it was too early to zero in on Three Rules’ next start, but didn’t rule out a return in the Florida Derby.

 

“Right now it’s up to the owners, so I’ll wait to hear from them,” he said. “He’s got a lot of options.”

Previously undefeated Irish War Cry, who won the Holy Bull in impressive fashion, appeared well Sunday morning following his disappointing seventh-place finish as the even-money favorite in the Fountain of Youth, trainer Graham Motion said.

 

“Really, he seems fine. I have no issues with him,” he said. “He seemed to cool out fine and he looked good this morning. It’s a real head-scratcher.”

 

Able to get away on an uncontested lead in his front-running Holy Bull triumph, Isabelle de Tomaso’s New Jersey homebred sat behind multiple stakes-winning pacesetter Three Rules through fractions of 23.43 seconds for the quarter-mile, 47.18 for a half and 1:12.37 for six furlongs under jockey Joel Rosario before fading on the turn for home.

           

The chestnut son of Hall of Famer Curlin, who won twice at Laurel Park as a 2-year-old including the Marylander Stakes, wound up seven lengths behind 191-1 long shot Quinientos, beaten a total of 21 ¾ lengths.

 

"The one thing I blame myself for perhaps is not telling Joel he should have taken a hold of him and taken him back. I think to compete in these races, at some point you’ve got to be able to be adaptable to different scenarios. This horse, if he’s going to compete at this level, he’s got to be able to relax,” Motion said. “I think it was a combination of maybe laying a little too close to a pretty good pace on what was a drying-out, cuppy racetrack and maybe just regressing off his last race when he ran such a big race.”

 

Motion said he hadn’t initially targeted the Fountain of Youth following the Holy Bull but the way Irish War Cry had done in the four weeks since convinced him to take a shot rather than wait for the Florida Derby.

 

“I certainly considered not running him yesterday,” Motion said. “From a handicapping point of view, he jumped so far forward in the Holy Bull there was every opportunity he was going to regress in this race but I felt that his regression would still be good enough to be very competitive, and he certainly trained so well I had no reason to think that he couldn’t run on Saturday. He was in such great form in everything he’d done since the Holy Bull.

 

“It’s easy to be an armchair quarterback the next day and second-guess your decisions,” he added. “The good thing is right now he seems to be in good shape.”

 

Motion did not rule out the Florida Derby but hinted he was more likely to give Irish War Cry more time heading into his next start.