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  • 2 days ago
When Shisospicy won the 2025 GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, the 3-year-old filly handed young trainer Jose D'Angelo his first win at the Breeders' Cup. Roughly 30 minutes later, D'Angelo was back in the winner's circle after Bentornato powered home in the Sprint to secure a rare Breeders' Cup double for his trainer. The TDN caught up with D'Angelo to reminisce on the career-defining day in this episode of Breeders' Cup Breakthrough.
Transcript
00:07She's so spicy! She's so speedy in the sprint!
00:11And Fernando and Fernando Keyes have won the Freedom Cup sprint!
00:25I came from a horseman family. My father was a trainer in Venezuela. I was at the barn since probably
00:33my first day of life.
00:35I'm very competitive. I don't know if that's good or bad.
00:38If you want to compare jobs, like engineer or whatever, like if you are good, your results are good.
00:45But here, no matter what, how good you are, you have to win. No run second, third, no. Win.
00:53I decided to move here on May 2019. I started training claiming horses. That's not usual in Venezuela.
01:01So I have to figure out everything new. Nobody knows me here.
01:06I think I owe a lot to a horse named Jesus Team. The horse teach me, the horse show me,
01:11and put me on the map.
01:13We went to Breeders' Cup, and the horse was like the big, long shot. That was my first Breeders' Cup.
01:20You see people from all the world with horses competing against you, the top of the top, and it's amazing.
01:26Breeders' Cup to me is like always the goal, because it's like where you define the champion.
01:32She's so spicy. It's a special filly. I remember her since the OBS sale, where I told Rich Mendez, his
01:39owner, like don't sell her.
01:41Keep her to run, because I really like her. When I saw her on the lead, Rich asked me, hey,
01:48are we good?
01:49Because she went too fast. I think I was 21. I said yes. She's good, because I saw the way
01:54that she was moving was easy for her.
01:56There's no catching. She's so spicy. She's so speedy in the sprint. She won it by four lengths on the
02:03wire.
02:09I was with my father. I remember perfect. I told him we did it, because it was a long year.
02:15People don't know like all the efforts that you make to bring the horses there. I was so excited and
02:22happy and jumping.
02:23But like I run to Ventronato like nothing happened to him. I'm ready for more.
02:30I was a little nervous, different than the filly. I was very confident on the filly and the fractions, because
02:35she was by herself.
02:36But he was fighting since the start.
02:38But Ventronato, and Armando Ortiz have won the Breeders' Cup script.
02:43I was very reflexive that night. Just grateful about everything, but we don't celebrate too much.
02:51Like at 8 p.m. I was sleeping. It was full of emotions, but ready for the future.
02:58Every morning I wake up excited, like the reason are the horses. Like they motivate you, at least me, to
03:07do better.
03:09Every horse is different, and whatever you do in one horse, don't say they're going to work in another horse.
03:14They are here talking to you, but if you miss something, you miss everything.
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03:21Transcription by CastingWords
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