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Pick Pony | Aug. 29, 2024, 1:50 p.m.
Nick Tammaro, the oddsmaker at Kentucky Downs, has installed Black Forza as the 5-2 morning-line favorite. On a warm, sunny Wednesday morning, Black Forza was getting acquainted with the Kentucky Downs course with assistant trainer Lauryn Faulkner on board. The 35-year-old O’Callaghan watched Black Forza jog around the course. Black Forza, a Kentucky-bred son of Complexity, will be making his fourth career start on Sunday. After breaking his maiden in his second start in Ireland, he traveled to Great Britain and won the Group 2 Markel Richmond Stakes by a half-length. The horse arrived in the U.S. last week and arrived at Kentucky Downs on Tuesday after spending time at Churchill Downs. O’Callaghan flew into Nashville on Tuesday following a 12-hour journey from Ireland that saw him land in Chicago before moving on to Tennessee. Wednesday was the first time he had ever seen Kentucky Downs. Call him impressed.
“It reminds me of home,” O’Callaghan said. “Guys were saying, ‘wait until you see it.’ It looks great. It’s better than I thought it would be. The barn area is lovely, clean and very airy. The horses are well taken care of.”
Of course, it’s more important that Black Forza likes it. After seeing him train, O’Callaghan said, “So far, so good.”
“I thought he looked quite fresh and well,” O’Callaghan said. “That’s better than being the other way.”
Kentucky Downs came into focus after the Markel Richmond Stakes. O’Callaghan mentioned that Adrian Beaumont of the International Racing Bureau pointed out the Juvenile Sprint Stakes because of the prize money. Black Forza, being a Kentucky-bred horse, can compete for the full prize. And now, they are here.
“I have had Kentucky Downs in the back of my mind for a long time,” said O’Callaghan, who trains 40 horses in Ireland. “The prize money gets to a certain point, and you can’t ignore it. This race he is running in is worth four times what the traditional races back home are worth.”
O’Callaghan is quietly optimistic that Black Forza will perform well on Sunday. The owner, Kennedy, who is from New York but spends half the year in Ireland, is scheduled to fly in from the Emerald Isle on Friday. Black Forza will be ridden on Sunday by Irish jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle, who was also on board in the Markel Richmond Stakes.
“He has a lot of speed,” O’Callaghan said. “Natural speed, rather than raw, five-furlong speed. I do think he will stretch out in time.”