Grupo 7C Racing Stable's Jesus' Team returned to the track at Palm Meadows Training Center Friday morning, kicking off preparation for a planned start in the $12 million Dubai World Cup (G1) March 27.
Jesus' Team enjoyed a week of frolicking in a round pen at Gulfstream Park's satellite training center in Palm Beach County following his second-place finish in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) Jan. 23 at Gulfstream.
“He just jogged this morning,” trainer Jose D'Angelo said. “We're making a training schedule for Dubai.”
Jesus' Team's connections were looking to the $20 million Saudi Cup Feb. 20 as a possible target following the 4-year-old son of Tapiture's runner-up finish behind Knicks Go that pushed his career earnings over $1 million.
“Dubai will be Jesus' next race,” D'Angelo said. “We want a fresh horse for the Dubai World Cup.”
Jesus' Team won a $25,000 claiming race at Gulfstream May 8 after being transferred to D'Angelo's stable before going on the finish third in the Preakness Stakes (G1), second in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and rallying to finish second in the Pegasus World Cup.
There may not have been a more improved horse in 2020 than Jesus' Team (Tapiture), who began the year in maiden claimers and finished it off with a second-place finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and a win in the Claiming Crown series. He kicked off 2021 with another second-place finish, in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational.
But the best may be yet to come.
Trainer Jose D'Angelo has decided to pass on the $20-million Saudi Cup and will, instead, point the 4-year-old for the G1 Dubai World Cup on March 27. Should Knicks Go (Paynter) and Charlatan (Speightstown) both run in Saudi Arabia that could mean they won't tackle the Dubai World Cup. If so, Jesus' Team could be among the top threats in the race.
“With the Dubai World Cup, I have more time to get him into better form,” D'Angelo said. “I think that I have a real chance to win the Dubai World Cup because it is a two-turn race and the Saudi Cup is one turn. The Dubai World Cup is one furlong farther. I think Jesus' Team will like that.”
Jesus' Team is owned by Grupo 7C Racing, a stable compromised of seven brothers based in Venezuela. He began his career for trainer Jose Garoffalo before being transferred to D'Angelo's barn prior to a $25,000 claimer at Gulfstream on May 8. He won by 6 3/4 lengths that day and then came back to finish second in an allowance.
“When he first worked out for me, I saw something in him,” D'Angelo said. “In his first race for me, he showed me something. He was amazing in that race. In his workouts after that he looked incredible. I talked to the owner and I said that it's only my first year in the USA, but I see something in this horse and I think we can run in the big races.”
Jesus' Team made his stakes debut in the GI Haskell S., where he was fourth and followed that up with third-place finishes in the GII Jim Dandy S. and the GI Preakness S.
Jesus' Team developed into exactly the type of horse D'Angelo hoped to have in his barn when he left Venezuela in 2019 to try to make it in the US.
He is the son of the prominent Venezuelan trainer Francisco D'Angelo and dropped out of college after two years to go out on his own. D'Angelo made his debut as a trainer when just 22. In 2014, he saddled Dreaming of Gold (Ven) (Documentary) to win the Classico Simon Bolivar, one of the most prestigious races in Venezuela. In 2018, D'Angelo was the leading trainer in his native country. Still in his twenties at the time, he had a bright future in Venezuela, but decided to move to Florida. He currently has 17 horses based at Palm Meadows.
“It was always my dream to run in the biggest races in the USA,” he said. “I made the decision to follow my dreams.”
D'Angelo has gotten off to a solid start, saddling his first US winner on June 8, 2019. He's won 37 of 203 starts for a winning percentage of 18%.
“I am happy and proud of what I have done,” he said. “But I think this year will be an amazing year for our barn.”
Trainer Jose D'Angelo put thousands of miles on his truck last year while giving his stable star, Jesus' Team, a tour of East Coast and Midwest racetracks.
“When Jesus' Team left Florida to go to Monmouth, when he went from Monmouth to Saratoga and back to Monmouth, when he went to Pimlico and when he went to Kentucky and back to Florida, I drove him there in the truck,” said D'Angelo, recalling the extensive road trip that produced Grade 1 placings in the Preakness (G1) at Pimlico and Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Keeneland, as well as a lifetime of memories for a horsemen who was only in his first full year of training in the U.S. “Everywhere he went, I drove the truck.”
After hitting the road with Grupo 7C Racing Stable's reformed claimer for a full schedule of major stakes engagements last year, the 30-year-old native of Caracas, Venezuela will save a lot on gas for the 4-year-old son of Tapiture's 2021 debut start in Saturday's $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park. Jesus' Team will only have to make the short trip from his home at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, to compete in the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus, which will co-headline Saturday's program with the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1).
“I'm very excited about the race. I feel blessed,” D'Angelo said. “I feel like Jesus is going to run a big race Saturday, but I'm also very nervous.”
D'Angelo may have a case of big-race jitters leading up to the Pegasus World Cup, but that doesn't mean that he lacks confidence in his horse or his ability to bring him into one of the world's richest races in peak form. He's been there, done that in Venezuela.
He grew up in a Thoroughbred racing family, the son of trainer Francisco D'Angelo, the leading trainer in Venezuela on multiple occasions, and the grandson of a prominent Thoroughbred journalist. After attending university to study business administration for two years, D'Angelo dropped out to pursue a training career with his father's blessing.
“I learned everything I know from my father. He was a great trainer in Venezuela. He won many titles in Venezuela. He is my role model, 100 percent,” he said.
D'Angelo experienced a full range of emotion at La Rinconada after saddling his first starter at the end of 2012.
“My first race I won, but he was disqualified,” D'Angelo said. “The horse's name was Dasha. It was the 23rd of December.”
Merry Christmas, indeed.
D'Angelo's spirits were quickly lifted when he saddled his first official winner with his third starter, Queen Norma, at La Rinconada.
In 2014, D'Angelo saddled Dreaming of Gold for a victory in the Clasico Simon Bolivar, becoming the youngest trainer to saddle the winner of Venezuela's most prestigious race.
“When the horse won his first race for me, I told the owners, 'We have the horse to win the Clasico Simon Bolivar.' They looked at me like I was crazy,” D'Angelo said. “Dreaming of Gold wasn't the best horse in Venezuela, but he beat the best horses. Jesus wasn't the best horse in Florida, but he beat the best in Florida and ran in the Preakness and Breeders' Cup. Both horses are very, very similar.”
D'Angelo had continued success and achieved his goal of becoming the leading trainer in Venezuela in 2018.
“It was my goal. After that, I moved to Florida,” said D'Angelo, who joined his father, who had ventured to South Florida in 2015 to resume his training career. “To come here was always my dream.”
D'Angelo, who had saddled Forze Mau for a second-place finish in the Copa Velocidad on the 2017 Clasico del Caribe undercard at Gulfstream while based in Venezuela, saddled his horse since relocating to the U.S. at Gulfstream Park June 8, 2019, when Cocktail Skirt came up a nose short of victory while finishing second in a $12,500 claiming race. He broke through with his first U.S. victory with his third overall U.S. starter, Beach Dreaming, whom he had claimed out of a $12,500 claiming race and went on to score at the same level June 27, 2019. D'Angelo didn't have to sweat out an inquiry following the 5-year-old mare's dominating 2 ¼-length victory, but she was claimed out of the race.
D'Angelo quickly established himself in South Florida while finishing the 2018 season with 15 victories from 57 starters. His early success certainly was a contributing factor to Jesus' Team being transferred to his stable last spring, a partnership that also achieved early success. The Kentucky-bred colt, who had broken his maiden in his fifth career start for a $32.000 claiming price, won at first asking by 6 ¾ lengths in a $25,000 claiming race at Gulfstream May 8.
“When he won, I thought that race was very impressive. When he came back to the barn it was like he didn't race,” D'Angelo said. “The next time he worked, the way he galloped out, he was a different horse.”
Jesus' Team made a significant jump in class next time out in a June 10 stakes-quality optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream, in which he finished second behind graded-stakes winner Sole Volante, who went on to run in the Belmont Stakes (G1) and Kentucky Derby (G1), and ahead of Florida Derby (G1) runner-up Shivaree.
“He ran green in that race, but he finished second with a big heart,” his trainer said.
D'Angelo revved up his truck, led Jesus' Team onto a van, and hit the road for an amazing adventure that included a fourth-place finish behind Authentic in the Haskell (G1) and a second-place finish in the ungraded Pegasus at Monmouth, a third-place finish in the Preakness, and a second-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile behind likely Pegasus favorite Knicks Go. Jesus' Team tuned up for the Pegasus with a victory in the Dec. 5 Claiming Crown Jewel upon his return to Gulfstream.
“I would like to be a great trainer in this amazing country and have great horses to run in the big races,” D'Angelo said. “The experience I lived last year was the best in my life, for sure.”
GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile runner-up Jesus’ Team (Tapiture) worked a bullet five furlongs in :59.75 (1/6) Saturday at Palm Meadows in preparation for the GI Pegasus World Cup Jan. 23.
“He was very sharp. It was an amazing workout and an amazing gallop out too,” trainer Jose D’Angelo said. “I am very happy with the work today. I think we will have a big chance in the Pegasus World Cup.”
Gulfstream Park.
The conditioner added, “He will have two more breezes, six furlongs next week and four furlongs the next week. Then, he will be ready for the Pegasus.”
Third in the GI Preakness S. Oct. 3, Jesus’ Team was second in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile Nov. 7 and won the Claiming Crown Jewel S. Dec. 5.
