Stablemate Arzak Possible for Return to Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar
Jockey Sanchez Notches Thursday Hat Trick, Nine Races Friday
BALTIMORE – Multiple Grade 2 winner Future Is Now, a 4-year-old Maryland homebred for R. Larry Johnson, has some scheduled time off coming following her record-setting victory last weekend at Keeneland.
Laurel Park-based trainer Michael Trombetta was thrilled with the most recent performance from Future Is Now, a daughter of leading Maryland sire Great Notion out of the Bernardini mare Past as Prelude that beat favored Star of Mystery by three-quarters of a length in the 5 ½-furlong Franklin (G2) Oct. 13.
It was the second straight win, fourth in a stakes and fifth in nine starts this year for Future Is Now, coming in 1:01.47 over the turf course, the fastest time in the Franklin’s 28-year history.
“She’s had a great season but this by far was the icing on the cake, so to speak. She really outdid herself in this one and beat a really good group of fillies,” Trombetta said. “We’re tickled to death with her.”
Future Is Now made three starts at Gulfstream Park during its 2023-2024 Championship Meet including an optional claiming allowance win Feb. 9 and a runner-up finish behind multiple stakes winner Stone Silent in the Captiva Island March 10.
After finishing fifth in Laurel’s April 10 King T. Leatherbury to another multiple stakes winner in Witty, Future Is Now earned her first career stakes triumph in the five-furlong The Very One at historic Pimlico Race Course on the eve of the 149th Preakness Stakes (G1).
“That was good,” Trombetta said. “It’s always nice to win one of those races on a big day over Preakness weekend.”
From there Future Is Now won the June 7 Intercontinental (G2) the day before the Belmont Stakes (G1) and was third in the July 25 Caress (G3), both at Saratoga, where she also won the Aug. 23 Smart N Fancy as a prep for the Franklin. Each of her last five races have come with jockey Paco Lopez, who recently passed 4,000 career wins.
After going unraced at 2, Future Is Now had two wins from five starts in 2023 – her early August unveiling at Colonial Downs and a mid-September allowance at Pimlico. Twelve of her 14 races have come on the grass, with one each on dirt and all-weather surfaces.
“It’s a combination of things,” Trombetta said of the filly’s development. “Some if it is maturity, some of it is her ratability. Her jockey gets along really well with her, and he does a good job. They’ve been a good team.”
Future Is Now ranks second on the points leaderboard for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) Nov. 2 at Del Mar with 13, one behind her Trombetta-trained stablemate Arzak, with five horses already automatically qualified. It would mean facing males, which she did for the only time in the Leatherbury, and she would need to be supplemented at a cost of $100,000.
Instead, Future Is Now is being aimed at a different target though on a familiar track – the 5 ½-furlong Giant’s Causeway (G3) in mid-April at Keeneland.
“We’re going to give her a little breather,” Trombetta said. “The plan for me is to get her ready for the Giant’s Causeway in the spring at Keeneland. She’s been in training since last winter at Gulfstream, so we’re going to take some time and just let her regroup a little bit and we’ll start to prepare her for that over the winter.”
Trombetta said the Breeders’ Cup remains a possibility for Sonata Stable’s Arzak, most recently third in the 5 ½-furlong Woodford (G2) Oct. 5 at Keeneland. The 6-year-old son of Not This Time was second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita after winning the Woodford.
“If he trains well he’s going to run in the Breeders’ Cup,” Trombetta said. “That’s the goal. We’ll see how he does.”
Arzak opened this year with a win in the April 6 Shakertown (G2) at Keeneland then ran second in the Jaipur (G1), third in the Wolf Hill and fourth in the Harvey Pack, each sprinting 5 ½ furlongs. He won Woodbine’s 2022 Jacques Cartier (G3) and Thorncliffe and 2021 Tom Ridge at Presque Isle Downs, all over all-weather surfaces.
“[The Woodford] wasn’t one of his best races but it was good. He was compromised by being wide, but other than that I think it was a good effort,” Trombetta said. “We’ve just had a ton of fun with him and he’s taken us to a lot of places.”
In 29 starts Arzak has run at 14 different tracks including Laurel and Pimlico in eight U.S. states as well as racing six times in Canada. Del Mar would be No. 15.
“He’s a good traveler,” Trombetta said. “These horses, they have to move all over the country doing what they do so it’s good if they travel well.”
Notes: Jockey Mychel Sanchez registered a hat trick Thursday aboard Sand Pipes ($4) in Race 3, Jerry’s Out ($22.80) in Race 4 and Susan’s Mule ($5.80) in Race 6 … Jaime Rodriguez bookended the card with wins on Coracle ($19.40) in Race 1 and Fair Haired Boy ($21) in Race 9 … Chrissy Kousin Brill’s 6-year-old gelding John the Bear ($27.40) got up in the final jump to nail Take a Hint on the wire and spring a 12-1 upset of featured Race 8, a second-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up. The winning time was 1:10.61 for six furlongs over a fast main track … There will be a carryover of $6,188.08 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 4-9) for Friday’s nine-race program that begins at 12:25 p.m.