BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING

The next day, Ebbert paid $35,000 for a 2020 gray ridgling by Arrogate out of Modeling, by Tapit. A May foal, the yearling was sent to a farm to grow. In February 2022, Ebbert sent the ridgling, soon to be known as Arcangelo, to horseOlogy.

“We take a horse-first approach. I don’t like to place the burden or expectation on a horse. And I don’t like to disappoint people along the way into thinking we might have the next big horse,” Antonucci explained. “With Arcangelo, wanted to give all the time we could to develop and planned out his training accordingly. We obviously saw all his breezes and how he was doing his work in the mornings. We could see him coming together.”

Arcangelo made his first start on December 17, 2022, finishing second to Aaraj in a maiden special weight at Gulfstream Park. On Jan. 14, 2023, he finished fourth in a maiden special weight won by Kingsbarns, who would win the Grade 2 Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby two races later, before rebounding to break his maiden on March 18 at Gulfstream Park.

“His maiden win showed us that he was putting it all together. He found his gear, got low and stretched out coming down the stretch,” Antonucci said. “It all just seemed to click for him.”

In his next start, Arcangelo did indeed prove that things had clicked for him. In only his fourth career start, Arcangelo won the Grade 3 Peter Pan by a determined head on May 13 at Belmont Park.

“When you’re an underdog, you have nothing to lose by asking questions,” Antonucci said. “The Peter Pan Stakes was the opportunity to ask the question about Arcangelo. He showed us he wanted it, and you can’t teach that as much as we think we can.”

Next came the Belmont Stakes and the rest is history. Literally. Arcangelo, whose earnings stood at $1,067,400, following the Belmont, is, at this writing, stabled at Saratoga Race Course with a possible start in the Grade 1 Travers there on Aug. 26.

“We know what the calendar is and what’s where, but we’ll let Arcangelo tell us what’s next,” Antonucci said. “The Travers is on our radar, but we’ll just see how it plays out. That was the approach leading up to the Belmont Stakes and that’s what we’re going to do again.”

While Antonucci gives a big generous nod to the horseOlogy team for the history-making victory in the Belmont, she also gives credit where credit is due.

“It’s Arcangelo. It’s the horse, his honesty to us and his heart,” Antonucci said. “I will forever be indebted to him. It’s always all about the horse.” TFH