Defying the odds: Ocala-based trainer Jena Antonucci makes history in the Belmont Stakes

Trainer Jena Antonucci of Ocala, right, hoists the Belmont Stakes trophy in the air as she celebrates with owner Jon Ebbert, left, after their horse, Arcangelo, won the 155th running of the Belmont Stakes horse race in Elmont, N.Y. on Saturday, June 10, 2023. Antonucci is the first woman trainer to win a Triple Crown horse race in the history of horse racing. [Mandatory Credit: Coglianese Photos – Track Photographer NYRA].

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Posted June 14, 2023 | By Michael Compton, special to the Gazette

In Arcangelo’s remarkable 1 ½-length triumph in the June 10 $1.5 million Belmont Stakes (G1), the third leg of racing’s Triple Crown, history was rewritten as his trailblazing trainer Jena Antonucci shattered the glass ceiling, becoming the first female trainer to win the coveted Belmont Stakes in its 155-year history. In the unprecedented victory, she also earned the distinction of becoming the first female trainer to win any of the Triple Crown races.

“It’s been amazing. I’m just so appreciative of the large amount of positivity and genuine well-wishes that we have received,” said Antonucci, 47, back home in Ocala a few days removed from the excitement of winning the Belmont Stakes. “It’s been a little louder the last few days. I really enjoy quiet. Honestly, it’s been amazing, having the opportunity to share our little story and the story of our amazing industry. To be given these opportunities, I will embrace them and do the best that I can.”

In the aftermath of Saturday’s historical win, Antonucci, who was only the 11^th woman to saddle a horse in the Belmont and the first since Kathy Ritvo sent out Florida-bred Mucho Macho Man to a seventh-place finish in 2011, has been busy, making numerous appearances on national cable news shows and speaking with the media.

“I had already arranged to fly back home on Sunday,” Antonucci shared. “I’m not nearly bold enough to have made any plans to have stayed up in New York (after the race), like I am going to win the Belmont. That’s just not how I am wired. I appreciate other people that may have that ability. I flew home on Sunday, literally drove home to Ocala, unpacked my back, repacked my bag, and flew right back to New York that night (for the television morning news appearances on Monday). So, it has been a bit of a whirlwind. I am grateful that all of that came together. It’s been great, and I am proud to share what we do.”

Arcangelo is a lightly raced, late-blooming son of the late champion Arrogate who made the first start of his career at Gulfstream Park in South Florida last December as a 2-year-old. He finished second that day in a promising debut, suggesting that his maiden-breaking win was not far away. He won for the first time in March of this year at Gulfstream Park in the third race of his career, drawing clear from his foes late to register a convincing 3 ½-length win at the distance of one mile. According to Antonucci, it was in that race that everything clicked for Arcangelo.

“I probably have a different approach than others,” Antonucci related. “I don’t like to place the burden or expectation on a horse. I don’t like to disappoint people along the way into thinking we might have the next coming of whatever. Everyone who has trained a horse has had a morning glory where they are unbelievable in the mornings (workouts) and they check every box, including pedigree and physical (conformation), how they do their jobs, and then show up in the afternoon (races) and couldn’t care less about being competitors. We obviously saw all his breezes and how he was doing the work (in the mornings) and coming together, so we wanted to give him all the time we could (to develop) and we spaced his workouts accordingly.

“His maiden win was probably the biggest tipper of all, where he just found that gear, got low, and stretched out coming home. It all came together for him,” she added. “In that race, I think it kind of clicked for him. That was pretty compelling at that point, and then we just wanted to provide him the opportunity to take his swing.”

Arcangelo has more than proved worth the wait. He got that initial opportunity to take his swing and demonstrate that he belonged with the upper echelon of his division in the Peter Pan Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park on May 13. The race is a traditional prep for the Belmont Stakes for horses that did not compete in the previous two Triple Crown races—The Kentucky Derby (G1) and the Preakness Stakes (G1). In a determined effort under jockey Javier Castellano, who also partnered with him in the Belmont, he won the Peter Pan by a head, showing grit and stamping his ticket to the Belmont Stakes. The Peter Pan victory marked just the second career graded stakes win for Antonucci, who started her training career in 2010.

“When you are an underdog, you have nothing to lose by asking questions,” Antonucci said. “The Peter Pan was the opportunity to ask the question. Javier did a great job of steering him through that race and teaching him to race eye-to-eye a little more and encouraging him to want it. This horse wants it, and you can’t teach that as much as we think we can.”

There hasn’t been much time to rest for Antonucci since the Belmont. Her assistant trainer Fiona Goodwin is back at Gulfstream overseeing the division there and Antonucci is in Ocala returning to day-to-day responsibilities. While she is trying to find her footing again after making history, Antonucci admitted that she was not getting much sleep in the days leading up to the race either.

“I just didn’t want to mess it up,” Antonucci shared. “I was busy making sure I checked every box. I didn’t want to disappoint anybody or let anybody down, and I didn’t want to let the horse down. I’m an over-processor in that way and I just wanted to make sure we did everything we could. I’m very much a stay in the moment, stay present kind of person. I’m very careful to not allow all those storylines to become the driving factor of things. My philosophy is to always put the horse first and not chase races. Whatever success or accomplishments we have will be direct benefactors of doing right by the horses.”

Based in Ocala, Antonucci owns and operates horseOlogy with Katie Miranda. The operation, which is located on the grounds of Goldmark Farm, handles everything related to raising, training, and racing thoroughbreds. They also offer bloodstock advising, pinhooking, and micro-investing (small ownership stakes in racehorses).

“We have always watched other people accomplish things and we go, ‘That would be nice to do,’” Antonucci said.  “I read something a long time ago, and I am paraphrasing, but it was along the lines of ‘Be careful in defining your own life goals by what other people are accomplishing.’ In doing that, you might be overlooking something that might be even bigger for you or something you never even dreamed of. I really just try to stay present to see how things unfold.”

As for what is next for Arcangelo, Antonucci is no stranger to being patient. She indicated that the prestigious Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga on Aug. 26 might be a target.

“There is zero idea,” she noted. “We know what the calendar is and what’s where, so we’ll let him come out of this and tell us. [The Travers] is on our radar, but the stakes schedule is there and if it’s seven weeks until we run or 11 weeks until we run, we’ll just back into it.”

 

In the immediate moments following the historic Belmont triumph and the ensuing winner’s circle ceremony celebrating the milestone achievement, Antonucci said, “It’s the horse and I am so grateful. I will forever be indebted to his honesty to us, his heart. He is why you get up seven days a week.

“When we were walking out, I said there is not a table made for you. You make the table,” Antonucci related of what her accomplishment means to women in the sport. “You put great people around you, you work hard. Work your tail off. It will come if you do it the right way. Do it the right way.”

Antonucci keeps between 20 to 25 horses in training at the racetrack year-round, and she trains four horses for Jon Ebbert’s Blue Rose Farm, the owner of Arcangelo, a horse he acquired at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale in Lexington, Kentucky, for just $35,000. Providing testament to the fact that top-level racehorses can come from anywhere, among Arcangelo’s vanquished rivals in the Belmont were horses that cost $1.3 million, $500,000, and $300,000 at public auction. Also in the field was last year’s Champion 2-Year-Old Colt Forte, who rallied late to finish second in the Belmont.

“It’s amazing,” said Ebbert, a Pennsylvania-based real estate investor. “I’m so proud of the horse. He’s an amazing horse. He’s all heart. We knew he had it him. Javier rode him perfectly and Jena is an amazing trainer. I was so lucky to find her. The rest is history.”