Honor the Fleet ready for stakes debut in Sir Barton

Best known for his work with 1999 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) champion Artax, trainer Louis Albertrani and his wife and assistant, Denise, have kept a low profile in recent years while operating a small Mid-Atlantic-based stable.

 

But this year, the 60-year-old Albertrani has unveiled a very promising 3-year-old in Honor the Fleet, a son of To Honor and Serve. Honor the Fleet, a winner of two of three starts, makes his stakes debut in Saturday’s $100,000 LARC Sir Barton to benefit the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance at Pimlico.

 

Owned by Frank V. Demarco, Honor the Fleet was purchased on the recommendation of the Albertranis, who plucked the colt out of the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale for $40,000. One of the reasons the Albertranis were drawn to the horse is that his paternal grandsire is Bernardini, the 2006 Preakness winner who was trained by Louis’ brother, Tom.

 

"Honor the Fleet was the first horse that Denise and I picked out for Frank and his wife, Claudia,” Albertrani said Thursday. “We thought he was really athletic. We liked everything about him, including his pedigree and his work in the breeze show. I really liked the way he traveled in that breeze. He’s the whole package.”

 

Albertrani saw a horse who needed time to mature and grow into his large frame, so the trainer opted not to race Honor the Fleet as a 2-year-old.

 

“He’s a big horse, and Frank and his wife have a lot of patience, so we just bided our time with him,” Albertrani said. “We just wanted to run him when he was ready. We’re looking for longevity with him.”

 

Honor the Fleet finished a narrowly beaten second in his career debut in a maiden special weight race Feb. 11 at Laurel Park Feb. 11. Four weeks later, he broke his maiden by 2 1/2 lengths in a mile race at Laurel. In his third start, Honor the Fleet powered to a 7 1/2-length victory in a first-level allowance race April 14 at Laurel.

 

In the 1 1/16-mile Sir Barton, which drew a field of 10, Honor the Fleet is the third choice in the morning line at 5-1. Steve Hamilton, the colt’s regular rider, has the assignment from the rail.

 

"He will like stretching out and have no trouble with the distance,” Albertrani said. “I think the horse will get a ground-saving trip from the rail, but I will leave race tactics up to the rider, who can take it from the break and see how the race unfolds.

 

“I couldn’t be happier with how this horse is doing,” he added. “He’s a very special horse. Frank Demarco is 86 years young and loves the game. He’s been in it for a long time, he and his wife, and they are just wonderful people. They are enjoying the run with this horse, and so are Denise and I.”

 

 

In mid-winter powerful Midwestern trainer Mike Stidham announced that he would be commandeering a barn at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., expanding his large quality-laden stable. Saturday at Pimlico, just over an hour down the road, he is taking advantage of the proximity and starts a trio of talented horses in Preakness Day undercard stakes.

 

Chief among his entrants is Emyprean Stables’ Zipessa, who wheels back on two weeks in the $150,000 Stella Artois Gallorette (G3) after a poor showing in the Sheepshead Bay (G2) at Belmont Park. Returning to a distance at which she owns a Grade 3 victory, the daughter of City Zip brings a slight class edge, having finished a flying fifth two back in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) and owning a pair of Grade 1 placings against steep company last season.

 

“This is the original race I wanted to run in, so I’m glad to have her in it,” Stidham said. “I think maybe the mile and three-eighths was too far last time and she didn’t like the soft going. It’s supposed to be firm this weekend, which will be to her liking. I don’t like to run horses back quickly like this, but she’s doing extremely well. The race came up with some good horses, but it isn’t an exceptionally deep race. We’re going to take a shot and hopefully we can just throw out the last race.”

 

Joe Bravo, aboard for the 5-year-old mare’s Breeders’ Cup effort, reunites from Post 2 as the 9-2 third choice on the morning line.

 

Stidham is very high on DARRS, Inc.’s Proforma, who has been off since an impressive tally in the $75,000 Sugar Bowl Stakes Dec. 17 at Fair Grounds going six furlongs on the main track. The son of Munnings is slated to start in the $200,000 Maker’s Mark Chick Lang for sophomores over the same distance.

 

To be ridden from Post 5 of nine by Florent Geroux, up for the Sugar Bowl win, Proforma got a delayed start to his 3-year-old campaign when caught up in the equine herpesvirus that gripped Fair Grounds in January.

 

“When he came out of that he had lost quite a bit of fitness,” Stidham explained. “We didn’t want to run him just to run him, so we targeted this weekend and his works have been sensational. I mean, really good. He’s already proven that he’s stakes caliber by winning the Sugar Bowl and ran a good number doing that. We’re exciting to get him going again. He’s fired up, fresh and ready. I couldn’t want him to be doing any better.”

 

David Ross, principal of DARRS, Inc. could have a big weekend. In addition to Proforma and Conquest Windycity trainer Brendan Walsh’s $300,000 Xpressbet Pimlico Special (G3) contender, Stidham-trained Euroboss is entered in the The Very One.

 

A sharp two-time allowance winner this winter in New Orleans, the daughter of Street Boss has trained well and exits a sharp third in the Whimsical (G3), losing by a length and being nosed out for second in the six-furlong event over Woodbine’s synthetic surface. Julien Leparoux picks up the mount from Post 4 of 11.

 

“I really like how Euroboss is doing,” Stidham said. “I think the five-eighths is a question mark with her as far as her optimal distance, but I’m sure can be a stalking spot and hopefully finish well. I hope it’s enough ground for her to get there.” 

 

 

While his star 3-year-old O Dionysus will stay in the barn Saturday, trainer Gary Capuano will be represented on the Preakness (G1) Day program at historic Pimlico Race Course with Elusive Joni, a hard-hitting 4-year-old filly seeking her first stakes victory in the $100,000 The Very One.

 

The 18th running of the five-furlong The Very One on turf is the first of eight stakes, four graded, worth $2.55 million on a spectacular 14-race program that is highlighted by the 142nd running of the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.

 

Twenty years ago Capuano, then just 33, was on Old Hilltop with one of the best 3-year-olds of his generation, Captain Bodgit, who came within three heads of winning the first two legs of the Triple Crown. Now based at Pimlico’s sister track, Laurel Park, Capuano said it didn’t seem like two decades had passed since then.

 

“No, but it’s been too long I can promise you that. But, we keep trying. Every year we get babies in and you’re always hopeful that one of them will step up and be good enough. It’s tough, especially for a little guy,” he said. “I don’t have the ammunition to buy those high-dollar pedigrees and stuff like that. I have to get pretty damn lucky to come up with a horse that’ll be that good, but you never know where they’ll come from. There could be one in the barn now for next year. Who knows?”

 

Captain Bodgit, a Florida-bred dark bay or brown son of multiple graded stakes winner Saint Bellado, debuted in July 1996 running third in a maiden special weight at Laurel Park. He proceeded to string together five consecutive victories capped by a determined three-quarter-length victory in the Laurel Futurity (G3).

 

As a 3-year-old Captain Bodgit opened with third-place finishes in the Holy Bull (G3) and Fountain of Youth (G2) before winning the Florida Derby (G1) and Wood Memorial (G1), making him the favorite for the 1997 Kentucky Derby (G1).

 

“I’ve been around since I was this big, I knew how hard it was. And to go through it, for the horses, how tough it is to get them ready for the Derby. You’ve only got one chance. They’re only a 3-year-old once. You’re pushing for that, the Derby and the Preakness and the Triple Crown races, if you’re good enough,” Caputano said. “You’ve only got one chance at it, and it takes its toll on a lot of them. It’s hard, but that’s what it supposed to be. That’s why the Triple Crown is the way it is.

 

“Actually, I remember it being easy for me because I didn’t have any hiccups with the horse,” he added. “He trained forwardly going step-to-step, from the Florida Derby to the Wood to the Derby. Everything I did, he did fine. I didn’t have any issues with him. He was an easy horse to handle. It was fun.”

 

Captain Bodgit, a late-running colt that put the Team Valor International syndicate on the national radar, wound up second by a head to Silver Charm in the Derby and a head in front of Free House in an epic finish. Two weeks later in the Preakness, Captain Bodgit came with a four-wide rally down the lane but wound up third, a head behind Free House, who was another head in back of Silver Charm.

 

“He ran huge. That was a great bunch of horses. They were some phenomenal horses that year as far as racing. We were talking about it the other day,” Capuano said. “If you go by the Beyer [Speed Figure] numbers, I think he ran a 115 or something in the Derby and got beat and a 118 in the Preakness and got beat. Something like the next 15 Derbies there wasn’t anything close to that and you think, ‘I was at the wrong year at the wrong time.’ There’s only been a couple in the last 20 years that have even come close to that.”

 

Capuano’s Maryland base then was at Bowie Race Course, a pioneer of winter racing and one-time home of Triple Crown winners Gallant Fox and Omaha before hosting its last live card in July 1985. It served for three decades as a training center in before closing for good in 2015.

 

“It was a lot quieter. It wasn’t like I went to Pimlico and everybody was on me every minute of every day. Everybody was supportive,” Capuano said. “It was just a fun time for me. I don’t know if I ever go back if it will be as easy, or fun. But you don’t get horses like that very often, and it might have helped that I was a little younger, too. It was all good.”