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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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‘This One’s For You, Martha’: Silent Poet Game And Determined In Nearctic Stakes

Silent Poet, under Justin Stein, delivered an emotional victory for trainer Nick Gonzalez in Sunday's $290,000 Nearctic Stakes (G2T) at Woodbine in Toronto, Ontario.

Gonzalez, whose wife, assistant trainer Martha Gonzalez, recently passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer, watched Silent Poet, bred and owned by Stronach Stables, put on a show over six furlongs on a “good” E.P. Taylor Turf Course.

It was Silent Poet who was ushered immediately to the front by Stein in the Nearctic, the 5-year-old son of Silent Name (JPN) engaged quickly by last year's winner City Boy.

The front-running pair took the field of eight (Reconfigure was scratched) through an opening quarter-mile carved out in :23.65. Blind Ambition, in third, and Kanthaka, in fourth, tracked the pacesetting duo.

Silent Poet and City Boy continued their front-end battle through a half-mile clip timed in :46.16. The two continued to go head-to-head around the final turn as their rivals endeavored to keep them in their sights.

As the field straightened for home, it became a two-horse race for all the spoils with Silent Poet to the inside and City Boy to the outside, both digging in for the final push to the wire.

After almost every step of the 1,320 yards run, Silent Poet came out on top a half-length winner in a time of 1:08.57. City Boy finished three-quarters of a length ahead of Kanthaka, who fended off Olympic Runner by a neck for third.

In the last strides, announcer Robert Geller exclaimed, “This one's for you, Martha.”

“It has a lot of meaning,” said Stein, who is enjoying a fruitful 2020 season. “People watching on the outside might not understand, but the family here, the community at Woodbine, I'm sure they were cheering big for this horse for reasons that we all know.”

Stein, who has eclipsed the 100-win mark on the campaign, knew just what to expect from Silent Poet at the beginning of the Nearctic and at the end.

“He just leaves the gate so quick. He hits his stride right away. With a horse like that you get position and just slow him down, save as much horse as you can, and he does the rest. He loves his job, and when you ask him to run, he just gives you everything. He tows you down the lane.”

The win was the fourth from five starts in 2020 for the ultra-consistent dark bay, who now sports a record of 10-4-2 from 18 career starts.

Silent Poet now has three graded titles to his name having won this year's Connaught Cup (G2T) and the 2019 running of the Play the King (G2T).

He launched his career on August 25, 2017, finishing second in his debut before going to win his next two starts the following year.

Silent Poet paid $5.40, $3.70 and $2.80. The 5-8 exactor with City Boy ($10.60, $5.20) returned $51.60 and the 5-8-2 triactor with Kanthaka ($3.20 to show) paid $187.70. Olympic Runner completed a 5-8-2-9 superfecta worth $378.10 for $1.

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The House that Awesome Again Built

All eyes will be on Santa Anita for their opening weekend feature in the GI Awesome Again S. as Bob Baffert trainees Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) and Improbable (City Zip) go head to head for the first time since that consequential first Saturday in May last year.

The $300,000 Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” contest could mark the emergence of an unusual stablemate rivalry.

Over two decades ago, the race’s namesake was part of a different rivalry– one for 1998 Horse of the Year.

Awesome Again had gone undefeated that year, claiming five consecutive victories in the GII Stephen Foster H., GI Whitney, GII Saratoga Breeders’ Cup H., GIII Hawthorne Gold Cup H. and finally the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic.

While his chief competitor Skip Away ended up finishing sixth in that year’s Classic, his five Grade I wins from earlier in the year were enough for Skip Away to be named Horse of the Year.

Adena Springs Stallion Manager Bill Drury admits his bias, but he said he still believes Awesome Again should have received the title from his Classic victory.

“That year’s Classic was the strongest field of horses ever put together in the same race,” he said. “I think he should have got Horse of the Year off that. Had he beat Skip Away twice, he would have.”

To prove his point, Drury can rattle off the field’s Grade I winners by heart: Awesome Again, Skip Away, Silver Charm, Arch, Gentlemen (Arg), Coronado’s Quest, Touch Gold, Swain (Ire) and Victory Gallop.

The horseman remembers being in the Churchill Downs’ grandstand that day.

“I didn’t see him cross the finish line because I knew I wanted to be in that winner’s circle,” he recalled. “When I saw Pat Day lead him between those horses, I knew he had it. It was such a thrill. I knew he was coming to my stallion barn and I was on cloud nine when he won that race.”

Drury said that Awesome Again got his Horse of the Year vengeance soon after taking up stud duty.

Awesome Again wins the Breeders’ Cup Classic with Pat Day aboard | Horsephotos

“I tell people that when he didn’t get it, it ticked him off so he said, ‘I’ll make my own Horse of the Year,’ and he produced Ghostzapper in his first crop.”

2004 Horse of the Year and Hall of Fame inductee Ghostzapper is one of the 14 Grade I winners, 13 millionaires and four Breeders’ Cup Champions that Awesome Again has produced. Ghostzapper’s win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic made his sire the first Classic winner to also sire a Classic winner.

After 21 years at stud, Awesome Again was officially pensioned last year from stud duty.

“After all that he’s done for us, we decided to let him enjoy his retirement,” Drury said. “We had people begging, ‘I’ve got a mare I want to breed to Awesome Again,’ and we literally had to keeping saying no. He deserved retirement.”

Even still, when Drury introduces guests to the farm, the homebred for Frank Stronach is still the headliner.

“I always start by telling my visitors to Adena Springs, ‘Welcome to the house that Awesome Again built.’ He’s our corner-post stallion. He’s still a crowd favorite when people come. He’s our first homebred champion and we’ve gotten several champions by him.”

Drury and Awesome Again have formed a close bond over their many years together, and the 26-year-old bay will always have a place in Drury’s heart.

“We’re pretty good buddies,” he said with a smile. “I believe the saying that cream rises to the top. Well he’s got to be one of the sweetest creams there is. His personality is one in a million. He’s got the heart of a champion and he’s just a classy horse.”

Adena Springs Stallion Sales Manager Ken Wilkins spoke on the success the farm has had with the son of Deputy Minister.

“A phenomenon you don’t see that much anymore is people taking the time and patience to develop sire lines,” Wilkins said. “Deputy Minister had a huge impact in Canada and of course in the United States. Awesome Again was one of our foundation sires and that led to Ghostzapper, who’s been a star in his own right.”

Wilkins noted that the sire line has come full circle at this year’s yearling sales.

“This will be Awesome Again’s last crop of yearlings that will go to sale. But at the same time, the sire line has been carried on by our Shaman Ghost (Ghostzapper), whose first crop of yearlings are offered this year. So it’s kind of a transition. Our hope is that Shaman Ghost will carry the baton.”

Wilkins added that he expects breeders will soon find many of the same characteristics in Shaman Ghost as they did in his grandsire.

“Breeders recognized the quality and consistency that Awesome Again had as a sire,” he said. “One of the things he brought to the table was that he was a proven bet. We certainly bet on him over and over again, and we cashed a lot of tickets from making those bets.”

Frank Stronach greets Shaman Ghost after his win in the GI Santa Anita H. | Benoit

Game on Dude, an eight-time Grade I winner and record three-time GI Santa Anita H. winner, is Awesome Again’s leading earner and one of his five multi-millionaires.

“Game on Dude is probably Awesome Again’s fan-favorite offspring,” Wilkins said. “It seems like a week doesn’t go by without someone coming out here and mentioning him. The career that horse had was tremendous.”

Awesome Again’s four other multi-millionaires include Ghostzapper, Eclipse Champion Older Mare Ginger Punch, GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Champion Wilko and Awesome Gem.

Drury explained that he has found a common trait in many of his charge’s top progeny.

“He’s not a big horse, but he put a giant’s heart in his horses,” he said. “Ginger Punch, Wilko, Game on Dude- they’re not big horses, but they could run. You can’t even see Ginger Punch in the photo finish [of her win in the 2007 GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff] because she was behind the horse that came in second. If there was one trait he passed on more than anything, it was the heart he put in the horse.”

In recent years, Awesome Again’s most successful progeny include last year’s GI Belmont S. winner Sir Winston, as well as Grade II winners Bravazo, Always Shopping and Something Awesome.

“That’s the sign of a great sire,” Wilkins said. “Great sires keep coming up with good horses. Then the next thing you see from a great sire is that they become a great broodmare sire.”

Awesome Again’s daughters have produced six Grade I winners, including Eclipse Champion Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky). Ghostzapper looks to continue the trend as the broodmare sire of Triple Crown hero Justify (Scat Daddy) and champion sprinter Drefong (Gio Ponti).

With Awesome Again’s final crops now hitting the track, Adena Springs hopes he can pass on the baton to the stallion empire he has constructed.

“He’s the center post of my stallion barn,” Drury said. “We’ve got his son, we’ve got his grandson and we have his half-brother Macho Uno (Holy Bull). He’s Adena Springs’ legacy, and I’m proud as I can be to have been with him.”

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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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