At $16,000, Gunnevera is Least-Expensive Derby Hopeful

When Jim and Pam Robinson and Stephen Upchurch sent a colt from first crop sire Dialed In   into the sale ring at Keeneland during the eighth session of the 2015 September yearling sale, he was the second horse offered on the day and the pavilion was nearly empty.

"We looked around and the pavilion was vacant and we knew we were in trouble," Pam Robinson recalls of the selling of the colt, who was bought by Antonio Sano for $16,000.

Later named Gunnevera, that bargain buy has earned nearly $1.2 million, is one of the leading contenders for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1), and is the least expensive likely starter for the classic among those purchased at public auction.

“He was a big, good-looking horse with a great walk,” Robinson said, adding that despite their concerns about the likelihood the colt would not bring what they wanted, the partners let him go. “We breed to sell and don’t keep them if they don’t bring what we want.”

Robinson said she was an admirer of Dialed In and once the 2011 Florida Derby (G1) winner retired to stud she visited the horse at John Phillips' Darby Dan Farm near Lexington.

“He was a big, good-looking, well-conformed horse, and I signed up immediately for their (breeders’ incentive) program,” Robinson said, noting that Brandywine’s two lifetime breeding rights for Dialed In have become more valuable as the stallion’s stud career has gotten off to a fast start.

Gunnevera is the best of seven winners from 10 foals produced from the winning Unbridled mare Unbridled Rage, bought by Brandywine for $13,000 from the Brookdale Sales offerings at the 2005 Keeneland January horses of all ages sale.

A winner of four of nine starts, including the Saratoga Special and Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Stakes (both grade 2) and the $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot (G3), Gunnevera is the only horse owned by Peacock Racing Stables of Spaniard Jaime Diaz Mengotti and Venezuelans Solomon Del-Valle and Guillermo Guerra.

Gunnevera is one of about 55 horses trained by Sano, a Venezuela native who is based at Gulfstream Park West, formerly Calder Race Course.

In 2015, Sano purchased 23 horses at yearling and 2-year-olds in training sales for slightly more than $1 million in total, including Gunnevera. Sano said he was attracted to the colt because of his stride.

Alessandro Sano, the trainer’s son, analyzes the pedigrees of some 50-60 horses a year his father is interested in buying, winnowing it down to about 10 to pursue. The younger Sano added Gunnevera to the list primarily because he had been an admirer of Dialed In while the horse was on the track.

“I liked Dialed In because he was a first-crop sire who had won the Florida Derby, and I like horses that have shown ability in Florida,” Alessandro Sano said while standing outside Barn 41 at Churchill Downs. “I felt like his progeny would be able to run in the South.”

Robinson said a representative of Darby Dan, where Dialed In stands for $15,000, gave the breeders a free stallion season to the stallion after Gunnevera won the Saratoga Special last year.

“We have bred many winners of big races and no one ever offered us a free season voluntarily,” the breeder said. “I consider that first class.”

Because the Robinsons are still busy with foaling and breeding mares at their farm near Paris, Ky., they will be unable to attend the Derby. But if Gunnevera wins, maybe—they hope—that's worth another offer from Darby Dan.