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Imprimis Puts Orseno Back in the Spotlight

You have to have the right horses, manage them properly and get them to the big races when they are at their best.

Those are the sentiments of Classic-winning trainer Joe Orseno, who will saddle Saturday’s GI Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint morning-line co-second choice Imprimis (Broken Vow).

It’s been some time, 20 years to be exact, but this isn’t Orseno’s first trip to the Breeders’ Cup with a live runner. Far from it.

Back-to-back wins at the 2000 Breeders’ Cup-held then as just a one-day, blockbuster eight-race program-put an exclamation point on a career year for the now 65-year-old.

“That year, we won two Breeders’ Cups, the Preakness, and a bunch of Grade Ones, and I just thought it was gonna happen every year,” said Orseno, a former private trainer for Stronach Stables between 1998-2002.

“It’s not like I forgot how to train in the last 20 years,” he added with a laugh. “You have to have the horses.”

Orseno certainly had the horses on that aforementioned Championship Saturday at Churchill Downs. Perfect Sting and Macho Uno reeled off dramatic wins in consecutive fashion beneath Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey, providing Orseno with a rolling double in the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf and GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, respectively. He also tightened the girth on Red Bullet to an upset victory over GI Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus earlier that spring in the second leg of the Triple Crown.

“That was a great day, obviously, for myself, the owners and my whole team, and a few of those guys are still with me,” Orseno reflected of the 2000 Breeders’ Cup.

“I thought I should’ve won one the year before and was very disappointed that Perfect Sting had a rough trip. I was like, ‘Geez, is this really ever going to happen for me?’ Then when she won, it was just like a big weight was lifted. We won a Breeders’ Cup! Wow! Then to come back and win the very next one. What can you say? It was just a great day. Two very good horses. And you know what? We had ’em ready to run that particular day. That’s what it’s about.”

Orseno looks like he has another one ready to run Saturday.

A punchless sixth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita–Orseno’s first starter at the Championships since 2002–Imprimis underwent a pair of throat surgeries to repair a breathing issue this off season.

“Gene Recio had him on the farm in Ocala and started to hear a little noise once he was back in training,” Orseno said. “We went ahead and scoped him and saw that the first surgery was starting to fail a little bit. We walked him across the street to Equine Performance Center and did another surgery in February. This one worked and he hasn’t looked back since. It 100% has helped him.”

Imprimis crossed the wire a dominant winner in his comebacker for his 6-year-old debut, but had his number controversially taken down to third for causing interference in the stretch in Saratoga’s GIII Troy S. Aug. 8.

“Take the human aspect out of it as far as taking him down, the horse ran his race and he couldn’t have run any better off a 10-month layoff,” Orseno said. “I sent him there to Saratoga and he ran a great race, and I was very proud of that.”

The gelding got his chance at redemption and backed up that strong performance with a visually impressive, come-from-behind score in the ‘Win and You’re In’ GIII Runhappy Turf Sprint S. over the soft going at Kentucky Downs last time Sept. 12.

He’s earned Beyer Speed Figures of 101 and 102 in his two starts this year. Irad Ortiz, Jr, a perfect three-for-three in the irons aboard Imprimis, is booked again to ride this weekend.

Imprimis’s six-race campaign in 2019, led by a course-and-distance tally in Keeneland’s GII Shakertown S., included a trip to Royal Ascot, where he finished sixth in the G1 King’s Stand S.

“This year we chose to do a different path. He didn’t run as much and he’s very fresh,” Orseno said. “He was getting little to no air [last year], and he still tried every single time.”

Produced by the Put It Back mare Shoppers Return, Imprimis was purchased privately by Mike Hall and Sam Ross’s Breeze Easy LLC after beginning his career with a pair of wins for breeder Craig Wheeler and trainer Tim Hills at the age of four.

The Florida-bred’s resume also includes wins in the 2018 Jim McKay Turf Sprint S. at Pimlico and the Wolf Hill S. at Monmouth, and the 2019 Silks Run S. at Gulfstream. Hailing from the family of GISWs Miss Shop (Deputy Minister) and Power Broker (Pulpit), he sports a record of 15-8-0-2 and career earnings of $759,948.

“When he’s right, he brings his ‘A’ game,” Orseno said. “I’m going in there knowing that my horse is as good as I can have him and as good as he could be. He’s ready.”

A native of Philadelphia, Orseno grew up not far from the now defunct Garden State Racetrack and went to the races with his father as a kid. He paved his own way into the business, taking out his trainer’s license in 1977. “When I was in high school, I played sports. I didn’t grow up around the horses,” Orseno said.

Based year-round at Gulfstream Park with 40 stalls, Orseno is closing in on 2,000 victories and $50 million in career earnings. Since re-opening his stable to the public in 2002, his runners have grossed seven figures in earnings in every season bar three. Other standouts campaigned by Orseno include GISWs: Golden Missile, also a longshot third in the 1999 GI Breeders’ Cup Classic, Collect the Cash, Roaring Twenties and Tap to Music.

“I’ve always been a hands-on trainer,” Orseno concluded. “The game’s changed a lot since I first came in. [Late trainer] Mickey Crock took me from the ground up and taught me the right way. The horsemen way. I always say, ‘There’s horse trainers and there’s horsemen.’ I always considered myself a horseman.”

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Orseno On Imprimis: ‘A Coach Is Only As Good As His Players,’ But ‘We Have The Right Player’

Breeze Easy LLC's Imprimis jogged twice around the training track at Keeneland Tuesday morning for a scheduled start in Saturday's Turf Sprint with a strong chance to give his trainer Joe Orseno a third career Breeders' Cup success.

“We're going to go to the gate tomorrow, which wasn't in my plans. Seeing we drew post three, I've decided to take him in the gate to stand him,” Orseno said. “I really wanted to be further on the outside. You can't do much about it.”

Imprimis was rated second in the morning line at 4-1 behind Got Stormy, the 7-2 favorite who finished second in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Mile last year at Santa Anita.

“I'm happy to have Irad [Ortiz Jr.] to ride him. He's a quality rider who knows the horse,” Orseno said. “He could get bottled up in there, but he has enough tactical speed for us to really do what we want.”

Imprimis, who has won eight of 15 career starts, finished sixth, beaten just four lengths, in last year's Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita. After an extended break, the 6-year-old gelding has finished first in his only two starts this year in the Troy at Saratoga and the Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint. The son of Broken Vow, however, was disqualified and placed third for drifting in during the stretch run of the Troy while making his first start in nine months.

“There was a lot of disappointment we didn't get the win. I never thought about the money. Yeah, I would have liked to get a bigger commission, but for me, it was: we did all that off that layoff; we got him ready and got him where we wanted him to be; shipped him to Saratoga and for him to win that way… ,” Orseno said. “They can't take that race away from him. They can take the first-place away, but the race was what I needed to get and that's what we got out of it. It definitely moved him forward for his next race.”

Imprimis was shuffled back in traffic in the stretch run at Kentucky Downs but recovered to mount an impressive drive to score by a neck under Ortiz Jr.

“I had no idea he was trapped down on the inside like that,” said Orseno, noting he didn't have a good vantage point while watching the race. “He just rode him out and around. That move he made doing that, picking up horses of that caliber, I told the owner, 'He has to be one of the choices for the Breeders' Cup off that race.' I think he'll peak for this race.”

Should Imprimis win the Turf Sprint Saturday, Orseno will enter a Breeders' Cup winner's circle for the first time since 2000, when he saddled Perfect Sting for a win in the Filly & Mare Turf and Macho Uno for a score in the Juvenile at Churchill Downs.

“It would mean a lot. When I went on that run with Stronach [Stables], it was five years and I was in it almost every year. We won two of them and were very competitive – we were third in the Classic with Golden Missile [in 1999]. I thought, 'I'll be doing this every year.' When you don't get to come back, you realize what it's about and what it takes,” Orseno said. “I have a conception of what it takes to get a horse ready to do this, but you have to have the horse. A coach is only as good as his players. Right now, we have the right player.”

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Both Orseno, Imprimis Breathing Easier Ahead Of 2020 Turf Sprint

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.”

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Trainer Orseno Hoping For ‘Another Miracle’ In Wednesday’s Franklin-Simpson Stakes

Four days after winning the $700,000 RUNHAPPY Turf Sprint with Imprimis, trainer Joe Orseno will try to win another Grade 3 sprint stakes with 15-1 shot Another Miracle in Wednesday's closing-day $500,000 Franklin-Simpson for 3-year-olds.

This will be Another Miracle's third start for Orseno, who received the colt from longtime clients Leonard and Jon Green upon the retirement of Gary Contessa. Another Miracle won a stakes at Saratoga as a 2-year-old and was third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

“Believe it or not, I got Another Miracle because of Imprimis,” Orseno said. “They were talking about where the horses should go. Jon said to his dad, 'Listen, Joe knows what to do. He campaigned Imprimis flawlessly. He knows horses like this.' I think I can campaign any horse, but that was nice and I got him because of that, and I'm OK with that.”

Orseno only had Another Miracle 12 days when he ran in Gulfstream Park's March 21 Texas Glitter Stakes, when Another Miracle missed the break, then hit the gate and generally had a bad trip the rest of the way in finishing seventh.

“It was just a throwout race,” he said. “I told Jon, 'I think I just need to regroup with this horse and get to know him.' We dropped back and gelded the horse, which he needed tremendously.”

Back in July 12 at Monmouth Park, Another Miracle won the $80,000 My Frenchman Stakes.

“He's a different horse,” Orseno said of the son of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. “He's very happy now. Listen, he was third in the Breeders' Cup last year so he doesn't have to get too much better to have a good campaign. I'm expecting a big race from him. He loves where he's at at Kentucky Downs. He's a horse who is really thriving.

“He's 15-1 for a reason. There are some quality horses in there. But they're all 3-year-olds. This is the time of the year where some get better. I like to think my horse will get better off one race for me.”

With jockey Paco Lopez serving a suspension, Gerardo Corrales has picked up the mount on Another Miracle. Corrales, in his first year riding at Kentucky Downs, has won four of 13 starts.

Meanwhile, Orseno said he's delighted with how Imprimis came out of his victory. The 6-year-old gelding earned a fees-paid spot in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland with his neck victory over Bombard and Front Run the Fed, who dead-heated for second. Imprimis won last year's Grade 2 Shakertown and was third in last fall's Grade 2 Woodford at Keeneland. He came in sixth in the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita.

Imprimis had surgery for correct a breathing obstruction and didn't start his 2020 season until Saratoga's Grade 3 Troy Stakes, in which he was disqualified from first to third. The RUNHAPPY Turf Sprint was his second start of the year.

“He looks fantastic,” Orseno said. “Everything says we're leaning and pushing toward the Breeders' Cup. So we'll start to get him ready. He likes Keeneland, and if it's a little soft, it doesn't bother him. And it could be soft on Nov. 7.

“Last year his first race in the Silks Run (at Gulfstream) was just phenomenal, and he came back and won the Shakertown at Keeneland,” Orseno said. “It looked like he was on his way. We got a little sidetracked, took him to Royal Ascot. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best thing for the horse, but we wanted to try it. It just didn't work. Getting him back off of that was the tough part. So it's really gratifying, especially knowing some of the work we did to him and bringing him back. You never know when you do all that with a horse. You hope and pray he's the same horse. But a lot of them come back and they're not.”

Orseno thinks Imprimis is a better horse this year “all the way around.

“His coat and his weight he's carrying, he's very happy,” he said. “I think it all goes with the time off, what we did and the horse was not getting all his air — and now he's getting all his air and he's very happy.”

Orseno said he'll go into the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint with a good measure of confidence.

“I knew I won the race, but I didn't realize the trip he got until I watched the replay a bunch of times,” he said of the RUNHAPPY Turf Sprint. “For him at the top of the stretch to be where he was and to swing out seven-wide — I know it's a long stretch and you still have a quarter-mile to go — but I think he overcame a lot in that race in running them down. I was really pleased with that.”

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