juan cano | Horse Racing Free Tips

Two Dimes Stable's Lamartine fulfilled Chancellor Dugan's life-long dream of owning (at least part of) a racehorse when the 6-year-old gelding ran at Churchill Downs on June 26.

The fact that the Juan Cano-trained Lamartine made Dugan a winner right off the bat in a $50,000 claiming race was a huge perk. On Saturday, Lamartine, claimed by Two Dimes for $32,000 on June 6, attempts another big step by running in the $75,000 Good Lord Stakes at the RUNHAPPY Meet at Ellis Park. And even though she's still a new to horse ownership, Dugan has a good idea what they're facing plunging into stakes company.

After all, Dugan is the women's basketball coach at Louisville's Bellarmine University. Last year, the Knights moved up from NCAA Division II to Division I. The team that went 18-11, losing in their conference tournament semifinals of the COVID-shortened season in 2019-2020, went 5-11 in last season's Division I debut.

“I'm going to compare this to if we go up against the University of Louisville,” said Dugan, who coached Southern Indiana's women's basketball team from 1991-1999, taking the Screaming Eagles to the 1997 Division II national championship game. “They historically are in the top five. Just to have that opportunity, to see where you are and to see what you're made of what you have in you, hopefully that's where we are on Saturday at post time.”

Growing up in Louisville, the graduate of Sacred Heart Academy (where she was a swimmer) and Eastern Kentucky University (where she walked on and earned a basketball scholarship) learned to love horse racing from her father.

“It's been a dream of mine forever,” Dugan said of horse ownership. “My dad used to take me to Churchill all the time, teaching me how to read the program and what he was looking for. I always said that if ever I had the opportunity to do it, I would. Growing up, I wanted to be a jockey. But I'm 6-3, so that didn't work out.”

She calls winning her first start as an owner “surreal.”

“I think it was 22 years to the day the last time I was with my dad, and we were actually at Churchill Downs,” Dugan said. “To fast forward and be in the winner's circle with your own horse, it was kind of cool. He got out to the lead, which he likes to do, and when he got to the top of the stretch, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, he went out too fast. There's no way. They're going to be coming rolling.' And he went to another gear. It was an awesome feeling. It was like winning a game.”

Dugan knew several members of Two Dimes, including managing partner Clint Glasscock, Brad Ray and Joe Montano, whose daughter Therese played for Dugan at Bellarmine. While she only owns a tiny fraction of Lamartine, emotions run big whether one is in for a hair or in for the whole horse.

“I went to see him the day before he raced, and he's beautiful,” she said. “A lot of times that doesn't have anything to do with it, but he looked like he could really run. I know nothing about horse racing other than trying to pick winners. But I look at his prior races and how he was doing, and I think they were smart to shorten up the distance. Because I think he's a sprinter.

“Being a coach, I kind of want to coach him. But I'm going to leave that to Juan. He's doing a fantastic job. I've asked him a couple of questions. I just love the differences of what it's like to coach an animal versus a human. It's a whole different ballgame, because they don't have any feedback for you – other than what they're telling you when they're running.”

The Brazilian-bred Lamartine is racing for a $50,000 purse, given that he's not a Kentucky-bred (for which the race purse includes $25,000 in Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Funds money). He's 15-1 in Jimmy McNerney's morning line and will be ridden by Gabriel Saez.

“There's not a lot out there for him, so we thought we'd take a shot at it,” Montano said. “It will be a tough race.”

Dugan thinks her horse and her team have one thing in common, saying, “I think they're going to surprise a few people this year.”

The field for the Good Lord Stakes, in post position, with jockey/trainer and odds: Lamartine (Gabriel Saez/Juan Cano) 15-1; Mocito Rojo (Jose Guerrero/Shane Wilson) 10-1; Bango (Marcelino Pedroza/Greg Foley) 7-5; Sir Alfred James (Colby Hernandez/Al Stall) 3-1; Dark Oak (Sonny Leon/Rey Hernandez) 20-1; Guest Suite (Emmanuel Esquivel/Cipriano Contreras) 5-1; I'm Corfu (Francisco Arrieta/Brittany Vanden Berg) 4-1. Mocito Rojo and I'm Corfu are expected to scratch.

The post ‘A Whole Different Ballgame’: Bellarmine Basketball Coach Enjoying First Foray Into Horse Ownership appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Juan Cano might not be a familiar name to Ellis Park racing enthusiasts, but he should be a familiar face.

The 31-date RUNHAPPY Meet at Ellis Park begins this Sunday and concludes Saturday Sept. 4. Racing is Friday, Saturday and Sundays, plus Thursday July 1. First post is 12:50 p.m. Central.

Cano, a married father of three (with a fourth on the way), was trainer Angel Montano Sr.'s longtime exercise rider and assistant. With health issues sidelining Montano in recent years, Cano largely ran the Louisville-based stable and was the one making the trip to Ellis Park to run its horses, including for six wins last summer. After Montano died Oct. 1 on his 80th birthday, Cano took over as trainer.

Outside the gaping absence of the Montano patriarch, Cano said not much has changed with the operation.

“I've been at Ellis Park for a lot of years. It's just a new name as the trainer,” he said at Churchill Downs. “I still have horses for Angel's kids. Joey comes out almost every day.”

The barn's trademark colors with the royal blue background and gold angel wings remain. Montano's seven sons and daughters gave Cano their dad's equipment and golf cart, saving the young trainer tens of thousands of dollars. The Montanos, their spouses and friends continue to help populate the barn, including the recent formation of Angel Wings LLC.

“Angel intended for him to take over,” said son Joe, who long has been involved in the stable and has helped Cano navigate the considerable paperwork, payroll and taxes any trainer encounters. “We've been a team together for 10 years anyways, so it just continued on.

“Juan has a couple of clients he picked up; people are interested in what he's doing. He works hard, takes good care of the horses and gives them a lot of attention. He's looking forward to a good summer.”

Cano has doubled the “six or seven” horses with which he started, including several he claimed for himself. The stable has three wins, a second and five thirds out of 19 starts at Churchill Downs' spring meet, with three days remaining. One of those wins came at 44-1 odds with Super Sol in a May 31 allowance race.

“I've had a good meet,” said Cano, who turns 36 on June 24. “Churchill Downs is a little tough to win a race. I got a little lucky this meet. I've got a couple of horses I think will do good at Ellis Park.”

Montano, a four-time meet leader at Ellis Park, paid forward his success in America with his generosity and mentorship of Cano and other young Hispanics at the track. Montano arrived from Mexico at age 17 on a Greyhound bus with a fourth-grade education, $100, six sandwiches and three words of English. He worked his way into becoming one of the very few thoroughbred trainers in Kentucky in the 1950s and '60s whose native language was Spanish, then stamped himself among the state's winningest stables in the 1970s. A trainer for 60 years, Montano was the dean of the Kentucky horsemen at the time of his death. His last wins came at Ellis Park last summer.

“With Juan, given the timing, I think Angel thought he was going to be one who could take the next step,” said Joe, a licensed assistant trainer whose full-time job is with Ford's Material Planning and Logistics team. “He turned a lot of responsibility over to Juan in the last year or so. They thought the same as far as caring and training horses, and Angel taught Juan a lot of things as far as galloping, working, how a horse feels and getting one ready to go long or short.

“Juan took a lot of what Angel taught him and incorporated it with what he learned working for other people. The family felt Juan was going to be the one to take over. It was easy for us to give him all of Angel's equipment. We knew Angel wanted him to have it. He was part of our family and still is.”

Cano grew up riding horses and cows in his native Guatemala before coming to Kentucky. He started out as a hotwalker and then groom for several trainers before pursuing a position as an exercise rider in Ocala, Fla. Upon returning to Kentucky, trainer Rick Hiles suggested Cano speak with Montano about a job. The trainer watched him gallop one horse and gave Cano a salaried job. It was the start of a 12-year relationship during which the elder Montano offered constant encouragement and assistance.

“He helped me a lot,” Cano said, adding in reference to getting the long hair off a horse's body, “One time they needed someone to clip a horse. Angel said, 'Juan, can you clip the horse?' I said, 'I don't know how, but I'll try.' I went out and bought clippers like you use for people. I clipped one. It took all day, and it looked like a cartoon. Wrong kind of clippers. Angel said, 'Juan! What are you doing?' And he went and bought me a pair of clippers for horses. After that, I clipped horses for all kinds of trainers.

“Angel gave me a chance to claim a horse. I claimed one for $5,000 and he won for $7,500. I got really lucky with my first horse. It was a three-horse field. The horse was claimed off me, but I made money off him and claimed another one. I used to always have one horse, then two. While working for Angel, I would groom and gallop my horses and do all my other work.”

In addition to the added training responsibilities, Cano continues to get on most, if not all, of his horses in morning training.

“It's not easy to run a stable, but I'm happy to do it,” he said. “All the Montano kids have helped me. Every time they come to the barn, they say, 'Keep doing what you're doing.' Miguel said, 'My daddy is happy for you.' I'm working hard. On race day, when I run a horse, I basically live with the horse all day in the barn.”

Horse owner Peter Patel, who claimed two fillies for Cano to train, said he likes knowing that the trainer sees and touches his horses every day.

“He's working hard, that's the main thing” Patel said. “I always loved small trainers. I like to help them out. He's doing wonderful, and I hope he does well. He's hands-on.”

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