BALTIMORE, Md. – Alex Sano looked on as Tami Bobo and Tristan De Meric’s Simplification galloped 1 ½ miles Wednesday morning at Pimlico Race Course in preparation for a start in Saturday’s 147th Preakness Stakes (G1).
The 25-year-old son of trainer Antonio Sano derived a special appreciation for the long-striding son of Not This Time’s morning exercise.
“Before I went to veterinary school, I used to see a horse and say, ‘It looks pretty,’ Now, I see a horse inside and out. I see the ligaments, the tendons, the bones, the muscles– the anatomy and how everything works,” Sano said. “That for me is priceless. Knowing the mechanics of how a horse functions is awesome. It’s like watching a movie that never ends.”
The younger Sano is in his final year at the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine, anxious to begin a career that most likely will involve the Thoroughbred industry.
“I finish the first week in May [2023] and then I plan to spend a year in Lexington [Ky.] doing racetrack and sales work,” he said. “With a year of practice under my belt, I want to be confident as I can when I go out on my own. I think it will be worth it.”
The veterinary student became thoroughly enchanted with the Thoroughbred during the years his father campaigned the $5.5 million earner, Gunnevera, who competed in the 2017 Triple Crown, finishing seventh in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and fifth in the Preakness.
“I’m so proud of my father and his success,” he said of Antonio Sano, who emigrated from Venezuela in 2009 and has established himself as one of the most prominent trainers in South Florida.
Simplification, who closed from 15th to fourth with a very wide rally in the Kentucky Derby, is rated fourth in the Preakness morning line at 6-1.
Maryland Jockey Club Press Release
Photo: Simplification’s owner Tami Bobo with trainer Alex Sano. (Jerry Dzierwinski/MJC)
