{"id":208710,"date":"2026-03-27T19:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T19:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/208710\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T19:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T19:13:09","slug":"florida-bred-sprint-stars-ready-to-shine-on-dubai-world-cup-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/208710\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida-bred Sprint Stars Ready to Shine on Dubai World Cup Card"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY BROCK SHERIDAN<\/p>\n

Florida-bred millionaires Bentornato and Reef Runner hit the international stage on the Dubai World Cup<\/a> undercard at Meydan Racecourse Saturday as strong contenders in the Group 1, US$2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen sponsored by Nakheel and the Group 1, US$1.5 million Al Quoz Sprint sponsored by Aziz Developments respectively.<\/p>\n

Owned by Angel Lozano\u2019s Leon King Stable Corporation and Julia C. and Michael Iavarone and trained by Jose D\u2019Angelo<\/a>, Bentornato<\/a> tries to join Secret Circle as the only horse to win both the Breeders\u2019 Cup Sprint<\/a> and Dubai Golden Shaheen. Secret Circle won the Breeders\u2019 Cup Sprint in 2013 and the 2015 edition of the Golden Shaheen.<\/p>\n

This will be the second trip to the Middle East for Bentornato, who was third behind winner Forever Young (Jpn) in the Group 3 Saudi Derby in February of 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at his career, he was undefeated in his first four starts at two but then he lost in Saudi to the best horse in the world, Forever Young,\u201d D\u2019Angelo said. \u201cHe ran huge but we realized a mile isn\u2019t what he needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lightly raced son of Bridlewood Farm stallion Valiant Minister<\/a> has just five starts since, winning three with two seconds. He went two-for-two last year including his two-and-a-half-length domination of the Breeders\u2019 Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 1 and a five-and-a-quarter-length romp in the $267,000 Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes (Listed)<\/a> at Churchill Downs in September.<\/p>\n

Named the Florida-bred champion sprinter and champion older male of 2025 by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders\u2019 and Owners\u2019 Association, Bentornato makes his first start as a 5-year-old Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s doing very well and he\u2019s keeping his condition well,\u201d D\u2019Angelo said. \u201cHe\u2019s handled the trip perfectly over here and he really likes this track too. At the Breeders\u2019 Cup and Churchill Downs, he was training better and better each day and I\u2019m seeing the same here. So I\u2019m very confident he\u2019s going to be tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bentornato drew gate two at Wednesday\u2019s post position draw, not entirely ideal for a horse that d\u2019Angelo says is \u201cbetter drawn outside\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has natural speed, so outside you have less pressure. But the draw is what it is,\u201d D\u2019Angelo said.<\/p>\n

Bentornato has career earnings of $2,322,180 from seven wins in 11 starts with two seconds and two thirds. Bred in Florida by Susan<\/a> and Charles Chu in the name of their Tanma Corp., Bentornato is out of the Put It Back<\/a> mare Her Special Way<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He is the 7-4 favorite on the morning line for the Dubai Golden Shaheen, a race previously won by Florida-breds XY Jet<\/a> in 2019, Benny the Bull<\/a> in 2008 and Ramp and Rave<\/a> in 1999.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rectangular<\/a><\/p>\n

Reef Runner Goes For Second Straight Stakes Victory in Middle East
\n\"Florida-bred<\/a><\/p>\n

Florida-bred Reef Runner \u2013 \u00a9DRC Photo<\/p>\n

Last year after Reef Runner<\/a> finished third in a conditioned allowance race sprinting five furlongs on the Gulfstream Park turf in May, trainer David Fawkes<\/a> decided the Alex and JoAnn Lieblong homebred needed something different.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year we kicked him out for 60 days and gelded him,\u201d Fawkes said. \u201cWhen he came back, he just blossomed. And we decided to run in the Breeders\u2019 Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fawkes promptly sent Reef Runner to Del Mar in August where he won the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap<\/a> by a nose ahead of defending champion Mororious (GB). But track officials disqualified Reef Runner placing him second for interference.<\/p>\n

In strong disagreement with the steward\u2019s decision but undeterred, Fawkes then entered Reef Runner in the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes<\/a> on the downhill turf at Santa Anita on September 27. Despite a troubled trip and racing last of eight at the top of the stretch, Reef Runner unleashed a furious run to win by half-length, solidifying his entry in the Breeders\u2019 Cup Turf Sprint (G1) back at Del Mar on Nov. 1. Unable to catch the free-running Shisospicy, Reef Runner finished fourth but has not lost in two starts since.<\/p>\n

He took the $125,000 Janus<\/a> at Gulfstream on December 20 then Fawkes got some input from an international associate.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom there, a friend of mine, Nick Esler, kinda promoted the idea of going to Saudi and that was a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reef Runner was sent to Saudi Arabia for the US$2 million 1351 Turf Sprint (Group 2)<\/a> at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh. There he rallied from 13th to catch Lazzat (Fr) just before the wire, winning by neck.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fawkes kept Reef Runner in the Middle East, sending him to Dubai, where Fawkes said he has settled in nicely.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been very, very quite. His mentality is bomb proof,\u201d Fawkes said. \u201c[Reef Runner has been] excellent. He\u2019s adapted very well here. He seems to like this warm weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe worked excellent. He got back to the barn and we took a look at him and watched him cool out and he looked great. Right now, we\u2019re very confident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reef Runner has drawn post five in the field of 13 in the Al Quoz Sprint, set for 1,200 meters (about six furlongs) on the turf.<\/p>\n

Reef Runner attempts to join Extravagant Kid<\/a>, who won the race in 2021, on the list of Florida-bred winners of the Al Quoz Sprint.<\/p>\n

Return to the March 27 issue of\u00a0Wire to Wire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BY BROCK SHERIDAN Florida-bred millionaires Bentornato and Reef Runner hit the international stage on the Dubai World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,4974],"class_list":["post-208710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-racing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}