D’Angelo will visit Royal Ascot with debut winner Gabaldon

Trainer Jose D’Angelo made it a priority to renew his passport this week after Gabaldon’s impressive debut victory in the $120,000 Royal Palm Juvenile on May 11 at Gulfstream Park.

Gabaldon earned his way to Great Britain, and his 34-year-old trainer couldn’t be more excited about saddling the 2-year-old Florida-bred colt for a stakes start during the prestigious Royal Ascot meet from June 18 to 22.

Owned by Soldi Stable, Gabaldon demonstrated speed and grit in the Royal Palm Juvenile. The five-furlong turf sprint for 2-year-olds that offered the winner an automatic stakes berth at Royal Ascot as well as a $25,000 travel stipend. A $9,000 purchase at the 2023 OBS October sale, the son of Gone Astray set half-mile fractions of 21.33 and 43.80 seconds under heavy pressure before kicking clear to win by 1 1/4 lengths in 56.20.

“I knew he was ready. When we worked him in company, he was perfect,” D’Angelo said. “We bought the horse with the idea to run him in the Florida Sire Stakes. One day, when I tried him on the grass, he was better on grass than dirt. So that’s why we tried him in the stake. I thought he would run big. They went fast. I think he has a big chance to win over there.”

George Weaver-trained Crimson Advocate captured the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies at Gulfstream before winning the Queen Mary (G2) at Royal Ascot last year.

D’Angelo, who has established himself as a young trainer on the rise since venturing from Venezuela to South Florida in 2018, has made three trans-Atlantic trips for stakes engagements in recent years.

After saddling Jesus’ Team for a third-place finish in the 2020 Preakness (G1) and second place finishes in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and 2021 Pegasus World Cup Invitational, D’Angelo traveled to Dubai, where his former claimer finished sixth in the 2021 Dubai World Cup (G1). In February, he finished third in the Saudi Derby (G3) with Bentornato, a multiple stakes-winning Florida-bred. In March, he traveled again to Dubai with Caramel Chip, who finished sixth in the Godolphin Mile (G2).

“We’re very excited to go to Royal Ascot. We went to Saudi with Bentornato. We went to Dubai with Jesus’ Team and Caramel Chip. We almost got to the (Kentucky) Derby with No More Time this year,” said D’Angelo, who saddled No More Time for a victory in the Sam F. Davis (G3) and a second-place finish by a nose in the Tampa Bay Derby (G2). “I’m feeling so blessed and happy to go to all the places the horses have brought me. For a while my goal was to run there, now we have to win over there.”

Emisael Jaramillo, Venezuela’s all-time leading rider before establishing himself at Gulfstream Park, will ride Gabaldon at Royal Ascot.

D’Angelo may plan another trans-Atlantic trip someday for Morplay Racing, Rosedown Racing Stables and Kerri Radcliffe’s Urban Legend. The $1.3 million purchase at the 2023 OBS April 2-year-olds-in-training sale has a long way to go before his trainer would even consider him for international competition, but the manner in which he broke his maiden at Gulfstream Park on May 24 gave D’Angelo a lot of hope for the future.

“I think he’s a horse with high potential,” he said.

Urban Legend had run three times in Southern California for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert on dirt last year before being transferred to D’Angelo. The son of Into Mischief finished a distant second in his debut behind highly regarded stablemate Nysos at Santa Anita on Oct. 21,before finishing off the board two months later at Del Mar. He rebounded with a game second-place finish at Santa Anita Dec. 26, missing graduation by a nose after dueling on the rail with the winner.

In his first start for D’Angelo, Urban Legend closely attended the early pacesetter before moving effortlessly to the lead on the turn and drawing off to win by 5 3/4 lengths in the five-furlong maiden special weight race while trying Tapeta for the first time.

“I looked at his bloodlines, his mare won stakes on turf. I put him on turf at Palm Meadows and he moved very different than he does on dirt,” D’Angelo said. “I looked for a race on (Tapeta) because he had a huge work on it.”

D’Angelo said he would look for a turf race for Urban Legend’s next start.