BC Sprint Winner Aloha West Brings Catalano Back Into National Spotlight

One of the most popular victories of the Breeders' Cup came in the $2 million Grade 1 Sprint won by the Wayne Catalano-trained 4-year-old Aloha West, who never even race until this past Feb. 7. But he bested a field that included top sprinters Jackie's Warrior, Dr. Schivel, Following Sea, Forenze Firenze Fire, C Z Rocket, and Special Reserve at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

Not that it was easy. Aloha West needed every inch of the Sprint's six furlongs to win by a tight nose in nailing California-based Dr. Schivel, who took command in midstretch as 1-2 favorite Jackie's Warrior faded. It was Aloha West's first stakes victory in only his second graded-stakes start, having finished second to Special Reserve in Keeneland's G2 Phoenix.

“I liked the bob at the end when they put my number up,” Catalano said. “But boy was it a tough one.”

Catalano has trained since 1983 and at 2,931 wins through Saturday is getting close to the 3,000-plus he won as a jockey, including 349 victories in 1977. Still, his greater success has been as a trainer.

“Wayne has just done an incredible job developing this colt,” said Aron Wellman, founder and president of the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners syndicate that won its first Breeders' Cup race. “He only ran for the first time in February this year as a 4-year-old, and (nine) months later he's a Breeders' Cup Sprint champion. That takes master horsemanship to be able to accomplish something that monumental.

“But Wayne told me two weeks ago — and this man has had his hands on some pretty serious horse flesh in his day — that 'this might be the best horse I've ever had my hands on.' The way he's managed and developed this horse is clearly brilliant. To do what he did today is just magical.”

Eclipse Thoroughbreds bought Aloha West privately off Catalano's long-time clients Gary and Mary West after the Hard Spun colt finished fifth in an Oaklawn allowance race in his second start.

“I was talking to Wayne shortly thereafter about a horse I was sending him and I said, 'What about that horse Aloha West? That horse that ran sneaky good,'” Wellman recalled. “And he said, 'That horse can run.' I had bought some horses off the Wests in the past that had similar profiles because their program is predominantly geared toward the classics. This is a horse that had missed his 2- and 3-year-old season. With the kind of volume that they got, he's the kind of horse that they need to turn over to make sense of their operation. So Wayne took the lead, we cut a deal and the rest is history.”

It was the Louisville-based Catalano's fourth Breeders' Cup victory and first since Stephanie's Kitten took the Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2011.

“Right now is a good time to win a race like this,” Catalano said. “We're a little low on horses. We've been around a long, long time, and it's not easy. I've reinvented myself so many times — 50 years and counting. I just want to settle down and have a handful of nice horses in one spot and enjoy the rest of my life with the grandkids.”

Overall, four Kentucky-based trainers won five of the 14 Breeders' Cup races: Catalano (Aloha West, Sprint), Brad Cox (Knicks Go, Classic), Steve Asmussen (Echo Zulu, Juvenile Fillies), and the Keeneland-based Wesley Ward (Golden Pal, Turf Sprint, and Twilight Gleaming, Juvenile Turf Sprint.

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Aloha West Nails Dr. Schivel On Wire In Breeders’ Cup Sprint

In one of the most white-knucke finishes of the weekend's meeting, Aloha West got the right side of a head-bob against Dr. Schivel after an intense stretch drive to win the Breeders' Cup Sprint on Saturday at Del Mar.

The 4-year-old Hard Spun colt settled in at the back of the field in the six-furlong race, as imposing 1-to-2 favorite Jackie's Warrior set a blistering pace on the rail, tracked closely by Special Reserve and longshot Matera Sky. As Jackie's Warrior clocked the opening quarter-mile in :21.91 seconds, jockey Jose Ortiz gradually brought Aloha West up through the crowd, and got him to the middle of the pack as the leaders hit the turn.

Jackie's Warrior continued to fend off a dogged challenge from Special Reserve through the bend, and they were joined three-wide by Dr. Schivel as they prepared to enter the stretch after a half-mile in :44.11 seconds. Following Sea also appeared poised to make a rail move, but his potential rally was cut off in the turn by a tight-cutting Jackie's Warrior.

After such a hot battle up front, Jackie's Warrior relented at the top of the stretch, leaving Special Reserve and Dr. Schivel to decide the leader, and Aloha West still several lengths behind. Dr. Schivel and jockey Flavien Prat appeared to have a clear path to victory with a furlong to go after disposing of Special Reserve, but Ortiz put Aloha West in the middle of the track, and got active in his urging, flipping between showing his mount the crop and the occasional right-hand strike.

Dr. Schivel still looked like he would survive the challenge as the wire drew near, but Aloha West drew even in the final two jumps. Even then, Dr. Schivel appeared to potentially have the forward head bob as they crossed the wire. The photo finish revealed that Aloha West had a nose over his foe when they passed the finish, while Following Sea recovered from his stunted rail move to finish third, 1 1/2 lengths behind the runner-up.

“I knew there was a lot of speed in the race and I had none, so I knew I was going to come from the back,” Ortiz said. “He was giving me a great run, but I didn't know if I was going to get there. Finally, we did. He put his head right on the wire.  I was about 60 percent sure I won.”

Aloha West stopped the clock in the six-furlong race in 1:08.49 over a fast main track. Any horse was going to be an upset after heavy Jackie's Warrior conceded, but Aloha West was an especially lucrative one, paying $24.60 to win.

Wayne Catalano trains Aloha West for owner Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. He was bred in Maryland by Robert T. Manfuso and Katharine M. Voss.

“I liked where we were at early in the race and the head-bob was a tough one,” Catalano said. “But you know when the results come this way we're happy. Right now, it's a good time to win a race like this. We are low on horses and have been around a long, long time. I have been reinventing myself so many times. Fifty years and counting. I just want to settle down and have a handful of nice ones in one spot and enjoy my life with my three grandkids and one more on the way.”

The victory in the Sprint improved Aloha West's record to five wins in nine career starts. It was his first stakes victory, and just his second graded stakes attempt, after finishing second by a neck in the Grade 2 Phoenix Stakes on Oct. 8 at Keeneland.

Quotes from other connections:

Jockey Flavien Prat (Dr. Schivel, second) – “That was a tough loss. He was running really strong and didn't see the winner coming as I did not look up.”

Trainer Todd Pletcher (Following Sea, third) – “He ran great. He had a good run up the rail and the door closed on him. He had to alter course and re-rally. Looked like he could have been right there if he could have snuck through.”

Trainer Mike Maker (Special Reserve, fourth) – “The horse ran big as always. Very taxing fractions. Proud of the horse.”

Trainer Steve Asmussen (beaten favorite Jackie's Warrior, sixth) – “He looks good. It wasn't his day.”

Jockey Joel Rosario (beaten favorite Jackie's Warrior, sixth) – “He broke really well and was running easy early on. Sometimes it is just hard to win all the time.  He gave his best and we were just outrun. On the far turn, two horses came to me a little bit, I could see they were moving better than we were. He always fights but, as I said, you can't win all the time.”

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Hard Spun’s Aloha West Gets the Bob in BC Sprint

DEL MAR, CA – Aloha West (Hard Spun) rocketed down the Del Mar stretch to just nail Dr. Schivel (Violence) by a painful nose in an absolutely thrilling renewal of Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Shuffled between runners and outsprinted toward the back of the pack in seventh as heavily favored star sophomore Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) was hounded through fractions of :21.91 and :44.11, Aloha West was ready to pounce in sixth as they approached the top of the stretch.

The 1-2 favorite was the first to blink as they turned for home as Dr. Schivel, unbeaten in three previous attempts at Del Mar, including this summer's GI Bing Crosby S., rolled up to hit the front with a four-wide sweep. Dr. Schivel looked long gone from there, but Aloha West had other ideas. Still with plenty to do as they approached the final furlong, Aloha West produced an impossible run on the outside beneath Jose Ortiz and just got there to defeat Dr. Schivel by a whisker at odds of 11-1.

It was another 1 1/2 lengths back to last out GII Vosburgh S. winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Following Sea (Runhappy) in third. Jackie's Warrior, an ultra-game neck winner over Saturday's smashing GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile hero Life Is Good (Into Mischief) in Saratoga's GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S., tired to sixth.

It was a fourth Breeders' Cup winner for the easy-to-root-for trainer Wayne Catalano.

“I liked everything,” Catalano said. “I liked where we were at early in the race and the head-bob was a tough one. But you know when the results come this way we're happy. Right now, it's a good time to win a race like this. We are low on horses and have been around a long, long time. I have been reinventing myself so many times. Fifty years and counting. I just want to settle down and have a handful of nice ones in one spot and enjoy my life with my three grandkids and one more on the way.”

Sharing (Speightstown) gave winning owner Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners its first Breeders' Cup win with an 13-1 upset in the 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita. Eclipse, quite impressively, has been represented in the two-day Championships in 11 straight years now since its inception in 2011. Eclipse has had its colors carried by GI Belmont S. winner Tapwrit (Tapit) as well as fellow Grade I winners Curalina (Curlin), Danza (Street Boss), In Lingerie (Empire Maker), et al.

“It's surreal to be here,” Eclipse frontman Aron Wellman said at the post-race press conference. “This is my home track. I live five minutes down the road from Del Mar racetrack, so to do it here with my family, this guy right here [Wayne Catalano], he's a treasure to the racing industry and a Hall of Famer in my book. And Jose [Ortiz] and I have had some incredible moments together. We won a Classic four years ago, and now to win a Breeders' Cup with him, I'm surrounded by class. And the horse, of course, deserves the most credit of all. He's an incredible specimen that there's no telling how good he can be.”

He continued, “Wayne has just done and incredible job developing this colt. He only ran for the first time in February this year as a 4-year-old, and 10 months later he's a Breeders' Cup Sprint champion. That takes master horsemanship to be able to accomplish something that monumental.”

Aloha West, purchased privately by this outfit earlier this season after making his first two starts at the age of four at Oaklawn, including a debut win Feb. 7, for Catalano clients Gary and Mary West, was fourth behind a pair of next-out winners while making his stakes debut in Churchill's Kelly's Landing S. June 25. He took his game to the next level, however, in a pair of wins at Saratoga this summer, including a breakthrough 102 Beyer Speed Figure performance in a seven-furlong optional claimer Sept. 2. He kicked home impressively, clocking an :11.82 final furlong, in his first try versus graded company, just coming up a nose short to the re-opposing Special Reserve (Midshipman) in the GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. at Keeneland last out Oct. 8.

“[Catalano] told me two weeks ago when this horse worked at Keeneland after he was the second in the Phoenix, and this man has had his hands on some pretty serious horse flesh in his day, 3,000 wins as a jockey, almost 2,000 as a trainer, this is his fourth Breeders' Cup win, and he told me this might be the best horse he's ever had his hands on,” Wellman said. “So we're coming in here with all kinds of confidence. The way he's managed and developed this horse is clearly brilliant, so we had so much confidence going in. [Aloha West] never even won a stakes race, so to do what he did today is just magical.”

Pedigree Notes:

Aloha West becomes the second Breeders' Cup winner for Hard Spun, also represented by GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile hero Spun to Run. He becomes the 15th Grade I winner/45th graded stakes winner/87th stakes winner for his sire. Aloha West's broodmare sire Speightstown– winner of the 2004 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint–is now responsible for five Grade I winners/14 graded winners/38 stakes winners. Island Bound, winner of the 2012 GIII Winning Colors S. for Robert Manfuso, produced a Good Samaritan filly of 2020 ($47,000 RNA '21 FTIOCT) and a Divining Rod filly of 2021. She was bred back to Golden Lad. Her 3-year-old filly Moquist is unbeaten in four career starts, most recently capturing an optional claimer for trainer Dale Capuano in the Laurel slop Oct. 29. Aloha West co-breeder Manfuso also bred GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Cathryn Sophia (Street Boss).

Saturday, Del Mar
QATAR RACING BREEDERS' CUP SPRINT-GI, $1,820,000, Del Mar, 11-6, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:08.49, ft.
1–ALOHA WEST, 126, c, 4, by Hard Spun
1st Dam: Island Bound (GSW, $277,790), by Speightstown
2nd Dam: Indy Mood for Luv, by A.P. Indy
3rd Dam: Lovington, by Afleet
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN,
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($160,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP). O-Eclipse
Thoroughbred Partners; B-Robert Manfuso & Katharine M.
Voss (MD); T-Wayne M. Catalano; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $1,040,000.
Lifetime Record: 9-5-2-0, $1,311,068. Werk Nick Rating: A+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Dr. Schivel, 124, c, 3, Violence–Lil Nugget, by Mining for
Money. ($37,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEEJAN). O-Red Baron's Barn
LLC, Rancho Temescal LLC, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and
Branch, William A.; B-William A. Branch & Arnold R. Hill (KY);
T-Mark Glatt. $340,000.
3–Following Sea, 124, c, 3, Runhappy–Quick Flip, by
Speightstown. O/B-Spendthrift Farm LLC (KY); T-Todd A.
Pletcher. $180,000.
Margins: NO, 1HF, 3/4. Odds: 11.30, 4.30, 20.70.
Also Ran: Special Reserve, Matera Sky, Jackie's Warrior, C Z Rocket, Firenze Fire, Lexitonian.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Jackie’s Warrior is the Gift That Keeps on Giving for His Breeders

John and Jennie Williams' J & J Stables sold Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) for just $95,000 at Keeneland September. While that price proved to be the bargain of a lifetime for buyer Kirk Robison, the speedy colt has been the gift that keeps on giving for his breeders. The Williamses hope that continues as Jackie's Warrior enters the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint Saturday as the morning-line favorite and his 2-year-old half-sister Lenni Girl (Candy Ride {Arg}) sells during Book 1 of Keeneland November Wednesday.

The Williamses acquired Jackie's Warrior's dam Unicorn Girl (A.P. Five Hundred) in her second season on the racetrack through trainer Ben Perkins. She was a hard-knocking claiming and allowance filly running in the tri-state area with 19 wins from 54 starts and $483,508 in earnings.

“I got her with Ben Perkins early on,” John Williams said. “She was just a blue-collar horse. We ran her hard and she loved to run. She was in the money 34 times. She got claimed a few times, but we decided to claim her back and make her a broodmare. She just had the heart. She never quit. She won all those races the hard way. She had a fight in her. We decided to take a chance on her and see if she would make a broodmare and she turned out to be a pretty great one with Jackie's Warrior.”

Jackie's Warrior was Unicorn Girl's third foal and was actually named by his breeders prior to his sale at Keeneland September and his new owner kept the sentimental name.

“We were planning on racing Jackie's Warrior and named him after my wife's sister Jackie, who was fighting brain cancer,” Williams said. “Then we were downsizing the stable, so we ended up selling him. We were taking some chips off the table. Obviously we had no idea he would go on to become a champion, which it looks like he will. His namesake Jackie is in remission and cancer free and we are all catching planes right now to see him run [at Del Mar].”

Jackie's Warrior opened his account with four straight wins last year, including the GII Saratoga Special S., GI Runhappy Hopeful S. and GI Champagne S. He suffered his first loss when fourth in the GI TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile last November at Keeneland.

The Williamses decided to strike while the iron is hot and supplemented Unicorn Girl and her 2020 American Pharoah colt to last year's Keeneland November Sale. Unicorn Girl summoned $850,000 from Arthur Hoyeau and her colt brought $600,000 from Coolmore's M.V. Magnier.

Jackie's Warrior has proven to be a one-turn wonder this year, taking the GIII Pat Day Mile May 1, GII Amsterdam S. Aug. 1, GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. Aug. 28 and GII Gallant Bob S. Sept. 25. He also finished a close second in the GI Woody Stephens S. June 5, cementing him as the to choice in his division of the World Championships.

After another sensational season from Jackie's Warrior with a possible championships on the line, the Williamses figured they'd try their luck at Keeneland again this year, supplementing Jackie's Warrior's unraced 2-year-old half-sister Lenni Girl (Hip 224B) to the November sale.

“We've got a fair amount of fillies, which is a little bit unusual for us,” Williams said. “We are just trying to rebalance the stable a little bit and figured we would see where the market is. Jackie's Warrior is obviously a special colt, so we will see what happens with Lenni Girl. She is named after my granddaughter Lennon. The family names seem to be working out pretty well.”

The Keeneland November Sale gets underway Wednesday with a single Book 1 session beginning at 1 p.m.

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