Trainer Rudy Rodriguez celebrated a victory and second-place finish in Saturday's $500,000 NYSSS Great White Way at Aqueduct Racetrack when Antonio of Venice captured the seven-furlong sprint for eligible New York-sired juveniles, with Heavyweight Champs elevated from third to second position after the disqualification of Brick Ambush. Together, Rodriguez's two trainees took home $375,000 of the available $500,000 purse.
“It was a good day for us for sure,” Rodriguez said Sunday morning. “A very good day.”
Antonio of Venice, co-owned by Rodriguez with Michael Imperio, Robert Cotrone and Hibiscus Stables, notched the first stakes victory of his career under jockey Manny Franco with a rail-skimming trip in third behind pacesetting stablemate Heavyweight Champs before encountering traffic troubles in the turn. The son of Laoban angled out sharply from the rail as The Big Torpedo was pinched between him and the retreating Solo's Fury with Brick Ambush making his bid from just off the pace widest of all.
Antonio of Venice was taken all the way around Brick Ambush in the stretch and found more with each stride down the center of the course to collar Brick Ambush and post the three-quarter-length victory in a final time of 1:24.40. He was awarded a 68 Beyer for the effort.
Rodriguez expressed his gratitude for the result after the stewards' inquiry.
“Thank God he stayed up and that we enjoyed it,” Rodriguez said. “He looks good this morning. He took a nap all morning and he's a nice, cool horse to be around. I'm just happy we won and that we didn't get DQ'd. I lost my voice rooting for Heavyweight Champs in the stretch and then saw Antonio and said, 'Oh boy, come on!' Antonio stole the show. It's good for us.”
Bred in New York by Cypress Creek Equine, Antonio of Venice was bought for $35,000 by Rodriguez at the OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and has since banked $350,744 through a record of 6-2-1-1. Rodriguez said the robust colt emulates his late sire Laoban, a son of Uncle Mo who stood his final season at stud in Kentucky in 2021.
“I liked Laoban, and [his progeny] are nice, solid horses,” said Rodriguez. “They have good bone. Antonio of Venice put on a lot of good weight and matured with some rest. We just go steady without pushing him. Yesterday, Michael Imperio said, 'Man, this horse never looked this good.'”
Rodriguez added no further plans have been made yet for Antonio of Venice.
“We've run him a lot, so we'll see what's coming up,” said Rodriguez. “The way he looks and presents himself, it looks like he's going to be a sprinter. It's a lot of money in the New York Sire Series, so we've got a lot of options with him.”
Big Dom Racing Stable and Big Toe Stables' Heavyweight Champs made a productive career bow under Ruben Silvera and ran on gamely in the stretch as Brick Ambush and Antonio of Venice overtook him past the sixteenth pole, crossing the finish line third 2 1/4 lengths behind Antonio of Venice.
Rodriguez said he was impressed with the way the son of Solomini handled an eventful debut.
“It's very good, and the owners are very happy,” said Rodriguez. “I was expecting him to set the pace; I told Ruben, 'put him in the game and take it from there. Don't let him get behind with the kickback.' We had schooled him in the morning with the kickback, but it's way different in a race. He's been breaking very sharp from the gate. He ran the way I thought he would, and I thought the seven-eighths was going to be a little hard for him – it's a stiff race to put a baby in. He came back good and he's happy.”
Rodriguez also sent out King Freud, whom he co-owns with Frank Witz, to an even off-the-board finish in the Great White Way, and reported that the son of Freud emerged from the race in good order.
“He's a turf horse. I'll freshen him up for the turf now and maybe we'll geld him,” said Rodriguez. “He looks good today. He's a nice, solid, strong horse.”
One race before the Great White Way, Rodriguez saddled Adam Madkour's Sun and Wind in the $500,000 NYSSS Fifth Avenue, where she finished a pace-pressing fourth 3 3/4 lengths behind the Javier Castellano-piloted My Shea D Lady. The Freud dark bay had entered from a fifth-out graduation in an October maiden claiming tilt at the Big A.
“She came back good and I was very happy,” said Rodriguez. “If you look at the replay, it looked like Javier [drifted] out, and she lifted her head up a little bit. She's a wary filly, so she doesn't like to be intimidated too much. I was happy with the way she ran. She didn't embarrass herself.”
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