The week's fastest horses: Sole Volante's figure measures up

Whether Sole Volante is a true 2020 Kentucky Derby threat or simply the beneficiary of a pace collapse Saturday in the Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) will continue to be debated this prep season.

In the meantime, the number came back especially strong for his upset of previously unbeaten Independence Hall, with Sole Volante’s Brisnet Speed Rating of 102 only two points off the fastest stakes-winning figure of last week.

A son of Karakontie, the gelding Sole Volante ran just as fast on the Brisnet scale as the freaky filly Venetian Harbor, winner of Santa Anita Park’s Las Virgenes (G2), and the in-form older mare Starship Jubilee, who made Gulfstream Park’s Suwannee River (G3) her fourth victory in five starts.

Share the Upside, who took Oaklawn Park’s King Cotton Stakes, a sprint, notched the 104 Brisnet rating to lead all weekend stakes winners.

“We knew from the beginning he’s a good horse,” said Sole Volante’s jockey, Luca Panici. “He’s very intelligent and when you ask him something he’s a quick learner.”

Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, the ask was to relax, then run late. And it played out perfectly as odds-on favorite Independence Hall chased a bit too close to the early leaders.

“Today I said to Luca, let him relax and run the last 3/8, and that’s what he did,” trainer Patrick Biancone said after the Sam F. Davis. “He’s a very interesting young horse.”

Sole Volante hopped on the Derby trail as a two-time winner on turf, taking Gulfstream Park’s Pulpit Stakes before a third in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes, his dirt debut around one turn.

“We love him a lot,” Biancone said. “He’s fantastic on the turf and in America, the life is the dirt, so I ran him in a sprint race at Gulfstream just to see if he could handle it and let him take some kickback. He did everything perfectly but ran a little bit early that day and struggled a little the last 1/16.”

Knowing he had a two-turn horse, Biancone stepped Sole Volante up in the Sam F. Davis. Between starts, he also helped bring on a big-name partner. Reeves Thoroughbred Racing joined Biancone’s daughter and assistant, Andie, and Limelight Stables as an owner.

The Tampa Bay Derby (G2) over the same course is an option for Sole Volante's next start.

Via Brisnet, here’s a closer look at the fastest stakes winners of the week: