Antonio of Venice rolls to another stakes victory in Sunday’s Times Square division of the New York Stallion Series at Aqueduct. NYRA Photo.
Antonio of Venice followed up on convincing stakes victory last month with another professional performance winning Sunday’s $200,000 Times Square division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes at Aqueduct.
The 3-year-old son of the late former leading New York-based freshman sire Laoban collected his third stakes victory in the Times Square, adding the 6 1/2-furlong stakes to his victory in the March 17 Damon Runyon and last year’s $500,000 Great White Way division of the NYSS.
Under regular pilot Manny Franco as the 6-5 favorite in the field of seven, Antonio of Venice won by 2 1/4 lengths over 2-1 second choice Doc Sullivan with 34-1 first-time starter Grand Opening third. Antonio of Venice won in 1:15.32 over the fast track.
“He looks like he’s improving every time,” said winning trainer Rudy Rodriguez, who co-owns the colt with Michael Imperio, Robert Cotrone and Hibiscus Stables. “The other day when I worked him in the morning, I looked at my watch and I said, ‘wow.’ This horse is just in a different league right now, so we’re just happy he keeps improving and hopefully keeps doing that.”
Franco, aboard for Antonio of Venice’s last four starts which include those three stakes victories, also noticed the improvement.
“I want to give all the credit to the horse, the team, and Rudy Rodriguez,” Franco said. “The horse is turning good at the right time. He’s improving every race he runs and you could see today that he just ran really hard. I’m just happy to be on him and part of the win.”
Bred by Cypress Creek Equine LLC, Antonio of Venice sold for $35,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale and for the same price at the 2023 OBS March sale. Antonio of Venice is the third foal out of Stella Performance, who also produced winning full siblings to the multiple stakes winner winner in New York-breds Modern Midas ($79,860 in earnings) and I’m Wide Awake ($158,603).
Stella Performance is also the dam of yearling New York-bred colt by McKinzie and filly by Keepmeinmind born February 18 in New York, and both bred by Cypress Creek Equine LLC.
A maiden winner at Saratoga Race Course in his third start, Antonio of Venice finished off the board in his first two stakes tries in Skidmore at Saratoga and Aspirant at Finger Lakes before a victory in the $500,000 Great White Way in mid-December. He started the season with a runner-up effort in the Rego Park in late January at Aqueduct before a 9 1/4-length victory in the Damon Runyon March 17.
The victory in the Times Square boosted Antonio of Venice’s earnings to $535,744.
Rodriguez kept the door open for several possible spots for Antonio of Venice.
“We’re going to enjoy the New York-bred, Stallion Series, maybe we take him to Finger Lakes,” he said. “Maybe we’ll take him to Saratoga, to Finger Lakes, and then try Saratoga again. We’ll see.”
