Trainer Antonio Sano Feels No Pressure

Trainer Antonio Sano feels no pressure despite his trainee Gunnevera’s big win in the Fountain of Youth Stakes. The trainer has been around the block and back and he knows there are good days and bad days.
Trainer Antonio Sano is a legend in his native Venezuela. He is the leading trainer in the history of that country and was known as the “Czar Valencia Hipismo”, which means the King of Valencian horseracing.
Just like things can change in a New York minute, trainer Antonio Sano saw his life change rapidly. He won 3,338 races in his country but he never won another race there.
He was kidnapped in 2009 and held for 36 days before his wife paid a ransom which freed him. It was the second time he had been kidnapped and for his safety and the safety of his family, he felt he had no choice but to leave.
Golfing great Lee Trevino was once asked about the pressure of needing to make a 4-foot putt to win a tournament with a winning purse of over $100,000. Trevino replied, “That’s not pressure. Pressure is playing a $20 Nassau against connected hustlers on the golf course when you only have $5 in your pocket. That’s pressure.”
Trainer Antonio Sano knows all about pressure. He moved his tack to Calder Race Course without any horses but with faith that he could start over again and build a new life. Sano: “After they kidnapped me, I took my wife and kids and came to Florida. It was very scary. Scary for me and my family. It was a new life. But I had to think of my kids. I had a lot going for me in Venezuela, but what was most important was to keep my kids and my wife safe. I promised my wife I will never go back. I cannot go back. It is not safe.”
Sano started his first horse in America in the spring of 2010 in the first race at Gulfstream. Two races later, he had his first U.S. winner, with a $10,000 claimer named Scorbit.
In 2011, trainer Antonio Sano won 75 races and had his first graded stakes winner with Devilish Lady. He would also win graded stakes races with City of Weston and Grand Tito, who won the Mac Diarmida Stakes at Gulfstream. He’s also won numerous training titles at Gulfstream and Gulfstream Park West, where he was the leading trainer in each of the last three years. But until Gunnevera came along, he had not had a horse that could put him in the national spotlight.
Sano used rider Javier Castellano aboard Gunnevera for the win in the Fountain of Youth on March 4 at Gulfstream. Castellano is also from Venezuela, but said he never rode for Sano there because he was based at a different track. What he knows of him is from his time in the U.S., and he has been impressed.
If Gunnevera wins his next race in the Florida Derby, he will be one of the favorites in the Kentucky Derby. Sano knows what pressure is but he is not going anywhere, Sano: “This is the best country. People respect other people and the security is good. This country has given me an opportunity to be successful again. I love Venezuela. But this is the best country.”
For bettors, there are a few moves that they can count on when looking at runners trained by Sano. The trainer has a great eye for a purchase. He has hit at 25% the last 5 years with first off the claim runners with a median payoff of 7-2. When Sano puts a horse in a Graded stakes, it belongs. He has hit with 17% of Graded stakes starters with a median payoff of 9-1 in the last 5 years and one ran second at 25-1. When Sano brings a horse back within a week he is solid. He is 12% with this move in the last 5 years and 41% of them ran in the money.
Whatever happens moving forward, trainer Antonio Sano will not be lost in the moment.