No rush: Antonucci takes her time with maturing Arcangelo

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Jena Antonucci, to be forever celebrated as the first woman to train the winner of a Triple Crown race, is in no hurry to get Arcangelo back to competition after his Belmont Stakes triumph. And no one is about to rush her.

The gray son of Arrogate will be conspicuous in his absence from the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on Saturday at Monmouth Park. Don’t look for him in the Jim Dandy (G2) at Saratoga the week after that, either. And the connections are not about to ship him from Saratoga to Mountaineer for the Aug. 6 West Virginia Derby (G3).

If Arcangelo is to make the Aug. 26 Travers (G1) at Saratoga, a race that could be pivotal in the wide-open scramble for division honors, he will do so without one of the traditional prep races.

“He doesn’t need it,” Antonucci said simply during a phone interview.

She even refuses to view the Travers as a race she must make. “If something isn’t perfect for that race, then we’ll find another option,” she said. “But right now that is the No. 1 focus on our radar. We’ll back into that appropriately.”

Arcangelo has worked twice since the Belmont. He clicked off five furlongs in a snappy 58.49 seconds on July 5 at Saratoga. “His first breeze out of the Belmont was excellent,” Antonucci said.

A second drill came Monday at Saratoga. He worked an easy six furlongs in 1:14.03.

The trainer emphasized that her prized colt remains on a good course. “He’s just continuing to mature, mentally and physically growing,” she said. “He has taken to everything and is feeding off everything in such a really cool, productive manner, all the people, the this and the that. Some horses will fold and some will rise. He just seems to rise and get a kick out of it.”

Arcangelo appeared to be the picture of contentment as he occupied one of Antonucci’s 10 stalls at Saratoga. He is closely monitored by assistant trainer Fiona Goodwin, who rides him every morning. “He feels great. He’s on a forward trend,” Goodwin said. “I think he’s going to get better as he gets older.”

The date that appears to matter most to the colt’s connections is May 11, 2020, the date he was foaled. “We’re still really focused on the 4-year-old year for him,” Antonucci said.

She has kept Arcangelo’s travel to a minimum. He made his first three starts at Gulfstream Park on behalf of Jon Ebbert’s Blue Rose Farm, debuting there with a runner-up effort Dec. 17 and then running fourth Jan. 14 before breaking his maiden March 18.

The sophomore did not run again until he won the May 13 Peter Pan (G3) at Belmont Park as a prelude to his historic Belmont on June 10. “We put those two together a little bit tighter with the Peter Pan and the Belmont,” Antonucci noted. “But pretty much all of his other starts were spaced out like we’re doing now, knowing we have kind of a bigger focus for 2024 and managing all of that appropriately.”

As much as Antonucci would like to see Arcangelo emerge with the Eclipse Award as leading 3-year-old male in North America, she refuses to let that desire drive her management of the horse.

“The accolades or awards that will come, I cannot control,” she said. “I really am not being coy, I promise. It’s just so staying focused on one thing at a time because I cannot control those kinds of things.

“If I stay laser focused on making sure he’s putting his best foot forward and he’s in his best space, then whatever is going to be with those things will be absolutely amazing and a true honor.”

Although some might note how fragile Thoroughbreds are and how quickly fortunes can sour, the forward-looking Antonucci must be credited with truly putting her horse first.

“We haven’t forced anything,” she said, “and we’re not going to force anything.”