Though it's been 20 years since Joe Orseno saddled a pair of winners at the Breeders' Cup World Championships, the 64-year-old trainer could be on the cusp of adding another victory to his record this fall at Keeneland.
In 2000, while employed by Stronach Stables, he sent out Macho Uno to win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Perfect Sting to win the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Last Saturday, the Orseno-trained Imprimis won the $700,000 Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs, earning an expenses-paid berth in this year's Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint.
“It's a long time between, that's for sure,” Orseno said. “It's just a matter of you have to have the horses; you have to obviously get lucky. I believe you make your own luck in this business with hard work and paying attention. I get the most I can out of my horses, but the ability has to be there.”
Imprimis, a 6-year-old son of Broken Vow, finished sixth in the Turf Sprint in 2019, but Orseno said the gelding is in much better form in 2020. The difference, the trainer explained, can be chalked up to a pair of throat surgeries that have allowed him to breathe in more air during his races.
“I didn't feel like his race in the (2019) Breeders' Cup showed what he was capable of,” explained Orseno. “You know, I was looking at the same horse, his bloodwork was good, he was training the same way he always had. We finally galloped him with an aerodynamic scope because he'd always made a little bit of noise, and we found that he was getting little to no air through his throat. It's just unbelievable what this horse was accomplishing not being able to breathe; he's always trying.”
After the first surgery, Imprimis was better, but he still made a little more noise than Orseno liked when he was training. He decided to scope the horse again and found that one of the structures in Imprimis' throat was still interfering with his breathing.
“We just thought, 'Let's fix it so we have no excuse,'” Orseno said. “The horse didn't owe us anything, but we wanted to give him the best chance for success. The owners (Breeze Easy LLC) are all about the horse, I'm all about the horse, and we weren't trying to make any particular race, so why not fix it.”
It all seems to be going the right way for Imprimis now. The gelding has crossed the wire first in both of his 2020 races thus far, though he was disqualified for interference and placed third in the G3 Troy Stakes at Saratoga last month.
Orseno and daughter at Gulfstream Park (Gulfstream Park photo)
Now, heading into the Breeders' Cup with the potential favorite for the Turf Sprint, Orseno is even more grateful for the horsemanship lessons he learned early on his career; he was taught to always put the horse first, and it's paying off.
A native of Philadelphia, Orseno didn't grow up in a horse racing family. His father enjoyed the racetrack for the gambling opportunities, so Orseno was able to get an up-close look at the horses from an early age, but he didn't start to fall in love with the sport until high school.
“I lived in a town not far from Garden State Park,” he explained. “When I was in high school I had plenty of jobs, and one of them was parking cars across the street from the track. I wound up meeting a lot of owners and trainers and jockeys, just talking to them, and every now and then someone would give me a horse to bet on. I'd put my two dollars on the horse and sometimes it would win, and I just enjoyed seeing the sport from that new angle.”
Orseno's father was a builder who owned his own business, and he'd always imagined they would go into business together when he graduated high school.
“I grew up playing football, basketball, and baseball, so I probably would have gotten into business with Dad,” Orseno said. “But then Dad passed away after high school, so I went to the track full time. I was walking horses on weekends anyway. I did it all on my own, worked hard and learned all I could learn.
“I feel like I came around in a time when the trainer who brought me around, Mickey Crock, was a real horseman. He was a small trainer with about 15 horses from New England, and he went to Garden State in the winter. He was a horseman, he taught me from the ground up what I needed to know.
“There's a lot of trainers in the game now that aren't horsemen. I'm glad I came up the way I did; it allows me to be all about the horses.”
Orseno took out his training license in 1977, and did well during his early years, winning training titles at Atlantic City, Garden State Park and Delaware Park. By 1993, however, he was down to just seven horses at the Meadowlands, and thought he'd have to leave the business.
That's about the time owner Frank Stronach first noticed Orseno and sent him a few horses. By 1998, Stronach had hired Orseno to take over his 40-horse stable entirely.
It was for Stronach that Orseno won those two Breeders' Cup races in 2000. That year, he also saddled upset Preakness Stakes winner Red Bullet, as well as Pimlico Special (then a Grade 1) winner Golden Missile.
In 2002, Orseno reopened his stable to the public. He's sent out at least 30 winners and accumulated over $1 million in earnings almost every year since then, racing mostly out of Florida year-round.
In fact, Imprimis was purchased specifically for that Florida program. The Sunshine State-bred gelding didn't race at all as a 2- or 3-year-old, but won on debut in February of 2018. In his second start, Imprimis won an allowance optional claiming event by 2 3/4 lengths.
Orseno had tried to claim the horse that finished second to Imprimis that day, and took notice of the dark bay's turn of foot. When the chance came up to buy him with Breeze Easy, Orseno was all in. Even he didn't expect the horse to be this good, however.
“When we bought him, we never dreamt he was going to take us to this place and time,” Orseno said. “After his first start for us (a 4 1/4-length allowance win), I told them he might be better than we thought he was.
“He just accelerates at the top of the stretch, just poetry in motion. After that race I sat down with (Breeze Easy owners) Sam Ross and Mike Hall, and I told them, 'He's better than we thought guys, we might have to travel a bit with him.'”
Orseno was right, and Imprimis has taken them on a journey all the way to Royal Ascot: in 2019, the gelding ran a good sixth, beaten just four lengths, in the Group 1 King's Stand Stakes.
“None of us were disappointed, though I think I should have run him in the Diamond Jubilee over six furlongs instead, and we might have been third behind Blue Point,” Orseno said, laughing good-naturedly.
This year, with his breathing fixed and all systems firing toward the Breeders' Cup, Orseno believes he really has a shot to compete with the best of the best at Keeneland.
“He doesn't need his racetrack, and he'll run over just about anything,” the trainer said. “I just have to keep him happy, that's my job now.”
The post Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Both Orseno, Imprimis Breathing Easier Ahead Of 2020 Turf Sprint appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
