Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
D’Angelo going for his biggest U.S. win in Tampa Bay Derby
Jose Francisco D’Angelo is winning races. Lots of races. He would like to be able to win more of the better races.
That seems to be on the horizon.
Through Tuesday, D’Angelo has 33 wins this year, which ties him for seventh in the nation. He ranks second in wins at Tampa Bay Downs, fourth at Gulfstream Park.
While many of those victories have come in the claiming ranks, D’Angelo won the first North American graded stakes of his career when No More Time captured last month’s Grade 3 Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs. D’Angelo has a potential up-andcomer in the older male sprint division with Run Classic, who on Feb. 24 won the Gulfstream Park Sprint Stakes impressively and has been invited to Dubai for the Golden Shaheen.
Saturday, No More Time will look to punch D’Angelo’s first ticket to the Kentucky Derby when he runs in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby.
“For sure, I am looking to upgrade my barn, better horses,” D’Angelo, 33, said Tuesday at the Palm Meadows training center, where he has 72 of his 97 horses in training. “When you get that claimer, you have to figure out the problem. When you get that baby, you have to figure out the horse. If he is long, short, dirt, turf.”
D’Angelo had good teachers in his native Venezuela, where his grandfather and father were both trainers. D’Angelo – who gets his name from his grandfather Jose and father Francisco – became the youngest trainer to win Venezuela’s marquee race, the Classico Simon Bolivar, with Dreaming of Gold in 2014.
D’Angelo said when his father came to the United States in 2014 he remained in Venezuela, where he trained as many as 160 horses at one time. D’Angelo came to the United States in 2019, and he and his father now work together.
In 2020, Jose Francisco D’Angelo got a taste of the Triple Crown trail with Jesus’ Team, who was pointing to the Kentucky Derby – run in September that year due to COVID – before he finished second in the Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park. That year, the Pegasus was run after the Haskell, a race in which Jesus’ Team finished fourth.
“You have to run in the Derby when you are sure you can win the Derby,” D’Angelo said. “I wanted him to win the Pegasus, and he didn’t win. I was very disappointed. I didn’t run in the Derby; that was the right decision, the horse won a lot of money.”
Jesus’ Team finished third in the Jim Dandy, third in the Preakness, and second to Knicks Go in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. In 2021, he finished second in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup before running sixth in the $12 million Dubai World Cup.
In 2022, D’Angelo won 96 races, compared to 29 in 2021. Last year, he won 138 races from 728 starters as his stable ballooned to more than 90 horses. His big horse in 2023 was Bentornato, a Florida-sired horse who won his first four starts, including three stakes. Most recently, Bentornato finished third in the $1.5 million Saudi Derby. D’Angelo said he is pointing the horse to the Grade 1 Woody Stephens on the Belmont Stakes Day program on June 8 at Saratoga.
On the same Sept. 9 card that Bentornato won the Dr. Fager division of the Florida Stallion Stakes, No More Time debuted, finishing second in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race. Six weeks later, No More Time stretched out a mile and won his maiden by 6 3/4 lengths.
D’Angelo was pointing No More Time to a Dec. 9 allowance race, but the horse developed a fever and had to miss it. Though he knew he was running a short horse, D’Angelo started No More Time in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes on New Year’s Day where he was in contention to the top of the lane before fading to fifth.
“He missed the break, he showed up at the top of the stretch, but he was done, he was tired,” D’Angelo said.
D’Angelo had No More Time entered in the Holy Bull Stakes on Feb. 3 at Gulfstream Park, but scratched the horse when he felt he needed one more work to be at his best. The following week, No More Time scored a front-running victory in the Sam Davis.
“I knew he was going to be tough there, and he responded very well,” D’Angelo said.
D’Angelo likes what he’s seen from No More Time in the interim and goes into the Tampa Bay Derby confident. Javier Castellano will ride.
“We have to be smart, have a good trip, pray that he keeps doing good and we’re going to be on top,” D’Angelo said. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to win the race if he’s doing as good as he is right now.”
No More Time is owned by Morplay Racing, headed by Rich Mendez, who owns the Miami-based record label Rich Music. Mendez said D’Angelo introduced himself in 2022. At the current time, Mendez has three horses with D’Angelo but plans to do more business with him in the future.
“We got a great relationship, he answers all my questions, picks up all my phone calls. He’s just as excited as we are with this opportunity,” Mendez said. “I feel he’s going to be one of the top trainers in the near future. When you meet him, it’s hard not to like him.”
Beckman being patient with Drip
Impressive maiden winner Drip was not entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Tampa Bay Derby, and trainer Whit Beckman said he does not plan to rush the horse to make the Kentucky Derby.
Beckman said he would most likely try to find an allowance race that could potentially be used to get to the Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard. Drip, a son of Good Magic, won a six-furlong maiden race by 2 1/4 lengths at Fair Grounds on Feb. 17, meaning it would be three weeks back to the Tampa Derby.
“We got started too late,” Beckman said. “Looking at how fast the race was back, I needed everything to go perfect, and there were a couple of little things that I didn’t find perfect. When a horse is not making you feel that good about something, don’t convince yourself that you do feel good.”