Little Vic wires the field in the Fred Hooper (Coglianese)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Victoria’s Ranch’s Little Vic led from gate to wire Saturday to win the $165,000 Fred W. Hooper (G3) presented by Ketel One Vodka at Gulfstream Park.
The 40th running of the Hooper for 4-year-olds and upward was part of the 13-race Pegasus World Cup (G1) program featuring 10 stakes, seven graded, worth $5.625 million in purses including the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) presented by Qatar Racing and $500,000 TAA Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G2) presented by SirDavis American Whiskey.
Little Vic ($19), a 6-year-old son of Practical Joke trained by Juan Carlos Avila, broke sharply from his post on the rail under Leonel Reyes and carried the field of nine through early fractions of :24.20, :46.78 and 1:11.00. Sent off at 8-1, he finished 2 ¾ lengths ahead of Implementation, completed the mile in 1:36.52. Tumbarumba, the 2024 Hooper winner and the 6-5 favorite, was another 2 ¾ lengths back in third.
The Hooper was Little Vic’s eighth victory in his 26-race career. He won the Tom Fool Handicap (G3) in April 2023.
Winning owner Victor Martinez (Little Vic): “It’s like I always say, we don’t have control of anything. A lot of things have to go right to win a horse race. I came up during my whole [MLB] career with the bases loaded, game on the line. I was nice and comfortable because I always trusted myself and I know what I can do. This is just different. This is a different feeling. I just can’t describe it. You have to experience it to have the feeling.”
“I decided to wait until I was done playing [to own horses] because I didn’t want to be missing this while playing baseball. [Horse racing] has given me, so far, more than I ever thought, because my very first horse I bought was King Guillermo [2020 winner of Tampa Bay Derby (G2)], and he took us to the Kentucky Derby (G1). Unfortunately, he got sick and we had to scratch him two days before the race.”
Winning trainer Juan Carlos Avila (Little Vic): “The race before was excellent so that’s why we decided to run in this race. The plan was to go to the lead. At the beginning we liked him at one mile, but we want to try and go longer. Look how good he did today with more distance.”
