The Tuesday before the Belmont Stakes (G1) last year, trainer Jena Antonucci and owner Jon Ebbert watched trackside at Belmont Park as their 3-year-old Arcangelo turned in a breeze-like open gallop that signaled his readiness for the final leg of the Triple Crown.
Four days later, he would prove triumphant, defeating reigning 2-year-old male champion Forte by 1 1/2 lengths before a crowd of 48,089 at Belmont and before television viewership of more than 3.8 million on FOX. Ebbert and Antonucci vaulted into the public eye, Antonucci in particular, having entered the record books as the first female trainer to win a Triple Crown race.
A year removed from that historic Belmont, with Arcangelo retired to stud at Lane’s End Farm after a championship campaign that also included a victory in the Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, life has changed for Antonucci and Ebbert, notably without such a star racehorse in their midst. His absence notwithstanding, Antonucci has seen her stable expand in better-bred runners and with an active division at Churchill Downs in 2024, while Ebbert’s horse involvement has moved more into the breeding side of the sport.
Still owning what he said was “a good portion” of Arcangelo, he has supported his young stallion with five mares he acquired late last year that are now in foal to him. Besides that quintet, he owns two other mares, plus three unraced 2-year-olds with Antonucci in Ocala, Fla., and an unraced 3-year-old by Hard Spun out of the stakes-winning, graded-placed Jump Star mare Maude S that just joined Antonucci’s Saratoga barn.
“I’m looking for that magical name,” Ebbert said.
The Pennsylvania resident is hoping for a repeat of a little of last year’s magic. In 2023, he and Antonucci soared to the heights of the sport with their star 3-year-old, whom Ebbert had bought for a mere $35,000 at the 2021 September Yearling Sale at Keeneland.
A fairytale ending was not to be in the fall, when a physical setback forced him to miss the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita Park. He would later undergo successful surgery for a left hind leg fracture before joining the stallion lineup at Lane’s End.
“We did have that little downer at the end of the year,” Ebbert said. “But that’s the sport. You can’t win ’em all.”
Arcangelo wins the 2023 Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park
While Ebbert’s Blue Rose Farm has not been represented by a starter since Arcangelo in the Travers last year, Antonucci has remained active. This week, she has six horses entered through June 9 at Gulfstream Park, four during the four-day Belmont Stakes Festival at Saratoga, and another two at Churchill Downs.
Whatintheliteral , to be ridden by Arcangelo’s regular jockey, Javier Castellano, is a starter for her in the June 6 Astoria Stakes at Saratoga.
Though she is reluctant to discuss the number of horses she trains—”I’m always super careful with (that) because we don’t wanna be horse managers,” she said—Antonucci plans to run more horses in Upstate New York this summer.
“I think we have better quality that will fit into the program better up here,” she said by telephone from Saratoga. “(Last year) I think we had probably a heavier program down south, looking for the right company for those kiddos. So, with having 2-year-olds maybe coming out of the sales sooner and some of those kinds of things, we brought up more this year to compete at Saratoga.”
She knows that bloodlines do not always translate into success, saying, “The great thing about horses is that they can’t read their pedigree.”
“On paper, we have some horses that are supposed to go be nice kids,” she added. “So we’ll give them their space to tell their story. Yeah, for sure, definitely there’s a pedigree quality. That’s an increase, and now we just need them to show the same determination and grit that they’re supposed to have on paper on the racetrack.”
Arcangelo had that in spades, winning four of six starts and more than $1.7 million. In addition to the Belmont and Travers, he won the Peter Pan Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park and a maiden race at Gulfstream—all in his final four starts as a 3-year-old.
As memorable as the Travers was—his defeat of Forte, Preakness Stakes (G1) winner National Treasure , and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mage and others essentially clinched an Eclipse Award—Ebbert said the Belmont was “probably the most amazing part” of the campaign. It came just three days before his 40th birthday.
“A lot of people don’t even know who I was in the business probably before that race. I’m just a little guy in the business,” he said. “It kind of changed everything.”
For Ebbert and Antonucci, Arcangelo may no longer be in the barn but he is not out of their thoughts or lives. Both have visited him at Lane’s End Farm in Central Kentucky.
Arcangelo at Lane’s End Farm
“I told him (previously) if he ran good, he’d get to have that job,” Antonucci said of stud duty. “So at least I got to keep my word on that.”
Arcangelo is a son of Arrogate, whose early death at age 7 in 2020 from an apparent neurological illness robbed the breeding industry of one of its most exciting young stallions. Arrogate sons such as Arcangelo and ultimately 2024 Preakness winner Seize the Grey, who races in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, can continue his bloodline at stud, Seize the Grey upon his eventual retirement.
Ebbert reports Arcangelo’s book of scheduled coverings of mares is full and his fertility rate high.
“I have seen him a couple of times, so it’s always fun to go visit,” Antonucci said. “I actually brought his groom (Jovani Flores) with me to see him when we were racing at Keeneland and that was just really cool to watch and see, just knowing the horse knows who he is, and just watching that connection was really sweet.”
Ebbert savors his journey with Arcangelo, which has not ended for him.
“Now being able to buy mares and breed them to your stallion you raced,” he said. “I’m looking forward to next year for the babies. I mean, it’s just all perfect, just an amazing experience.”
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