Barn Tour: Hot at Turfway, Lobo discusses 11 recent winners

• Spendthrift (2/27)
• Brian Lynch (2/22)

Florence, Ky.

Standing just outside his car parked near the eighth polelast weekend at Turfway Park, trainer Paulo Lobo was bundled up from head totoe to protect himself against the raw cold of a winter morning.

He watched nine of his horses breeze Saturday. That wasnearly half the string he stables in the barn past the northwest end of theTapeta track. More of Lobo’s horses live 70 miles down I-75 in Lexington, Ky.,usually training at The Thoroughbred Center, where he headed right after theseworkouts.

Lobo, 54, a native of São Paulo, Brazil, has felt especiallyat home during this winter meet at the remodeled racecourse near Cincinnati. InDecember he got off to a flying start, winning with 11 of 29 starters andfinishing in the money seven other times. Since the start of 2023 he has gone10-for-63.

Coming into this week, Lobo’s 21 wins ranked second only toWesley Ward’s 22 for training victories since the Turfway meet began Nov. 30.He said it's the culmination of a career-best year that resulted in 60 wins andpurse earnings of $3,480,393.

“We had a very, very good Ellis Park meeting and thenKentucky Downs, and then we had Keeneland,” Lobo said Saturday. “We had acouple winners at Churchill. I think that all these races with these horses ledus up well for this meeting.”

The just-retired Ivar’s triumph in the Jonathan B. SchusterStakes last summer at Horseshoe Indianapolis and runner-up finishes in theWoodbine Mile (G1) and Coolmore Turf Mile (G1) were the highlights of 2022. ButLobo’s recent success has come at nearly all levels.

“Across the board, yes,” Lobo said. “This last year we didmore maidens, allowances and stakes. I ran just a couple horses in claimingraces.”

Lobo discussed 11 of his recent winners – and Ivar – in thislatest Horse Racing Nation Barn Tour.

Thunder Love. Counting her 2-year-old racing seasonin his native England for young trainer George Boughey, this 4-year-oldsprinter is 5: 4-0-0 on synthetic tracks and 10: 1-2-0 on turf. Owned by England-basedsoccer impresario Kia Joorabchian, the daughter of Ireland stallion Profitableis 2-for-2 this year, winning each time in a Turfway allowance. Lobo saidThunder Love is ready to step up in class. “She’ll be in a nice stake here onthe 17th,” Lobo said, referring to the $125,000 Frog Stakes, a six-furlong,black-type race for older fillies and mares.

Roja Redemption. The Brownwood Farm homebred made up8 1/4 lengths in his debut at Turfway to deliver a thrilling victory Feb. 10 ina $70,000 maiden mile. Asked what was next for the 3-year-old Flintshire colt,Lobo said “probably the Jeff Ruby” Steaks (G3) on March 25. Even though that isa Kentucky Derby points prep, Lobo tapped the brakes on any thoughts aboutrunning for the roses. “Looking at his pedigree,” he said, “I think he’s moreof a grass horse.”

Vezpa. A young 7-year-old who was bred in Brazil,Vezpa brought an 8: 2-0-1 turf record to the current meet at Turfway. Afterfive straight off-the-board results, the Agnes Gold mare found success on theTurfway Tapeta, going 4: 1-2-1 with her victory coming last month in a one-mileallowance. She showed strong closing speed last Thursday, finishing a narrow secondunder similar conditions. Lobo said Wednesday he was leaning to racing Vezpa “inthe stake on Jeff Ruby day,” namely the 1 1/16-mile Latonia.

Event Detail. The $600,000 City of Light colt ownedby Larry Best drew widest in the Rebel (G2) last month at Oaklawn, never gotinto the race and finished 10th. “I think he hated the mud over there,” saidLobo, who said he might remove the variable of dirt conditions from the3-year-old’s Derby-trail equation. “I think we’re coming back with the JeffRuby (G3) here” April 1. Turfway was where Event Detail scored a 2 3/4-length,maiden-breaking victory Jan. 27 as the even-money favorite in a maiden mile.

Bromley. Some rethinking might be required for this3-year-old Mastery colt after he gave up a late lead and finished thirdSaturday in the John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway. His only two wins came insprints last year, and then he was slow to get into the Lecomte (G3) before herallied and wilted to come in a distant fifth. “He has been training super,”Lobo said. “He was very unlucky in New Orleans. He stumbled right out of thegate and got rank. I think you can toss that race.” As for a next race, Lobosaid Wednesday, “We haven’t decided yet. I need to see how he comes back.”

Hurricane J. Bought by Joorabchian as a $330,000yearling, this Nyquist colt won his first two races last year before aseventh-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. In his 3-year-old debut,Hurricane J was switched from dirt to Tapeta, where he wound up 10th in asix-furlong allowance race at Turfway. “I was expecting a much better race fromhim,” Lobo said. “But (jockey Joe) Talamo told me he thinks the horse didn’thandle the track well.” Lobo said a return to a dirt sprint was in order,although he had nothing specific. “We’re going to point him for Keeneland,” hesaid.

Transect. The $300,000 Gun Runner colt owned by Best beganhis career with debut and allowance wins early this year. Those were atTurfway. A move to the dirt and up to stakes company resulted in a 10th-placefinish Saturday in the Gotham (G3) at Aqueduct. “He didn’t run good over there,”Lobo said. “I need more time to decide.” Before that Lobo had been encouragedby what the 3-year-old showed him at Turfway. “He ran twice here,” he said lastweekend. “He wasn’t ready, like 100 percent, his first time out, and he woneasily. He was running off the pace the first time out. The second time he won,he was on the lead.”

Quaria Comet. A 4-year-old bred and owned byBrownwood Farm, the Shackleford filly has won three of her last five races,most recently going 6 1/2 furlongs and scoring as the 7-2 second choice in a$76,000 Turfway allowance for non-winners of three. “She’s always there andalways delivers in her race,” Lobo said. “She should be running here soon in a‘three other than’ condition.”

Noises Off. The Gilberto Sayão Da Silva homebred geldingby Candy Ride finished a close second going a route of ground at Turfway in hisfirst two races as a 3-year-old. “I have him running in a maiden (race) on JeffRuby day,” Lobo said.

Puffin. After breaking her maiden at Turfway on herthird try, the 3-year-old Street Boss filly was seventh last week in a 11/16-mile allowance over the same track. “She didn’t have a good trip lastThursday,” Lobo said. “She was very unlucky. I think she’s a much better fillythan she ran last time.” He said the Dunwoody Farm homebred would be pointednext to an allowance race this spring at Keeneland.

Quiero Más. It took seven tries the last threewinters at Turfway for this 4-year-old Daredevil filly to break her maiden. Itfinally happened last month at 7-2 odds in a $70,000 mile. The lightly racedBrownwood homebred will look to parlay her newfound success on the same tracksoon. “She’s going to run here in a first-condition allowance in two or threeweeks,” Lobo said.

Ivar. One of three millionaires who have been inLobo’s care, Grade 1 winner Ivar was formally retired this week to begin a studcareer at Haras Carampangue in South America, as first reported Tuesday by TurfDiario in Argentina. His last race was Jan. 28, when he finished second toAtone in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1).

“He has run three Breeders’ Cups, the (Woodbine) Mile inCanada, the Shadwell (now Coolmore) Mile for three years, and he went toFlorida for the Pegasus (Turf), all Grade 1s,” said Lobo, who pointed out eachof the three Breeders’ Cup Miles was lost by no more than two lengths. “He wasalways, always trying his best.”

Now a young 7 owing to his Southern Hemisphere breeding, theAgnes Gold horse earned $1,586,303 for owners Sayão Da Silva and Paulo Fernandode Oliveira, longtime friends from Brazil who have partnered in theThoroughbred business for 15 years.

Twice a Group 1 winner as a 2-year-old in Argentina, Ivarcarries with him the credentials of a North American Grade 1 winner thanks tohis score in the Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland during the COVID fall of 2020.

“It was a great race,” Lobo said. “He was a champion.”