At age 8, mainstay set for another run
HOT SPRINGS — Ivan Fallunovalot is back.
The 8-year-old gelding trained by Tom Howard has raced at the upper level of Oaklawn Park sprinters since 2015. Last year, after Ivan Fallunovalot finished fourth in the $125,000 6-furlong King Cotton Stakes and second in the Hot Springs Stakes, a minor injury ended his Oaklawn campaign.
Howard wondered whether age had begun to catch up with what he says is, by far, his career favorite.
“Mileage was beginning to catch up with him,” Howard said. “But he had a little bug or something.”
Ivan Fallunovalot was not done. He came back after nearly six months with a 6-furlong $40,000 allowance victory at Remington Park in Oklahoma City on Sept. 2. Three weeks later, he won in Remington’s $150,000 6-furlong David M. Vance Stakes.
“That told me that he’s probably ready to race,” Howard said.
Howard said Ivan Fallunovalot, despite his age, might be geared for a return to his 2015 form, when he won the King Cotton and finished second in Oaklawn’s highest-level sprints for older horses, the $125,000 Hot Springs Stakes and the Racing Festival of the South’s $400,000 Grade III Count Fleet Sprint Handicap.
“I feel good about him,” Howard said. “I feel real good about him. This is about as good as he’s been coming in here. He doesn’t have anything going on. Everything’s good right now.”
Howard has entered Ivan Fallunovalot for a 6-furlong allowance race Sunday, which he hopes will help in preparation for the King Cotton on Feb. 3.
Through five seasons, Ivan Fallunovalot has won 17 of 28 starts, with four seconds and one third. He has earned $945,803.
“I feel like he’s as good as he ever was,” Howard said. “But, it’s kind of like bragging on your wife and your kids or your dogs. That can kind of get you in trouble, but he’s done enough for us to keep us happy for a while.”
Tucked in his stall in the new Afleet Alex barn, away from the windy, overcast chill of Tuesday morning, Ivan Fallunovalot begged for attention. Howard’s wife and assistant, Kathy Howard, said he probably hoped a treat was on the way.
“He might be hungry,” she said. “He loves sweet potatoes.”
Tom Howard, 69, said Kathy Howard inspired him to go out on his own as a trainer.
“I worked off and on for several years for other trainers,” Howard said. “I really had no desire to train on my own, but Kathleen came along and said, ‘Why not give it a shot?’ I’d already gone through it on my own, and it was just too overwhelming if you do it right, with the paperwork and all the stuff that goes along with it. I had no desire for all that, but she said she’d fall in there and take care of those things, and it’s been pretty good for us.”
Kathy Howard is the racing manager for Frank Fletcher, a car dealer from North Little Rock and owner of Frank Fletcher Racing Operations.
“She takes care of everything,” Tom Howard said. “It really helps that she knows everyone from here to Timbuktu. She’s a good bookkeeper, and she keeps me in line. Sometimes it gets to be too much for her, too, with this and her real job, but Frank’s always been real good to let us do what we’re doing.”