A gate-to-wire score in the Janus for Coppola (Lauren King)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Coppola, a 5-year-old son of Into Mischief who had won two previous stakes on Gulfstream Park’s turf course, broke on top and never relinquished the lead to win Saturday’s $140,000 Janus.
Trained by Dale Romans and owned by Hammer Time Stable LLC and Sport of Kings Racing Partners, LLC, Coppola covered a firm five-furlong turf course in :54.60 while. Coppola won last winter’s Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint and Silks Run during the Championship Meet. He finished fourth in last year’s Janus and fourth in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint (G2) and Jaipur (G1).
“I was very impressed with him. The second we stepped on the track he was moving great,” Gaffalione said. “He broke sharp, put me where I needed to be and he put it away early. That was a fantastic race for him today.
“Breaking from the outside post, we obviously had to be aggressive. I didn’t know if we could clear everybody. But the way he broke, I just let him do his thing and try to stay out of his way. I was able to put my hands down going into the turn, he took a nice deep breath, kind of cruised around there on his own — around the turn — and when I called on him reaching the eighth pole, he found another gear.”
Coppola returned $9.80.
