Avanzare Claimed by Broberg After Winning Return

Trainer Karl Broberg made a prediction before he put the $16,000 claim in for multiple graded stakes winner Avanzare Dec. 28 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

"I was joking that it was either going to be a 10-way shake, or I was going to be the only idiot in the room," Broberg said.

There was reason to be suspicious of the drop to the claiming ranks for the 7-year-old Grand Reward gelding, who won the Arcadia Stakes (G2T) and Del Mar Mile (G2T) in Southern California in 2015 and scored his first graded win in the 2014 Washington Park Handicap (G3) on the all-weather track at Arlington International Racecourse.

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There was the drop to the claiming ranks—and a low level, on top of that—but Avanzare was also returning to racing off a 22-month layoff, since his last start in the Canadian Turf Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park in February of 2016. Adding to the claiming game of poker was that Avanzare was set to go in a turf sprint at a distance of about 5 1/2 furlongs. In his 16 previous starts, he never ran in a race shorter than a mile.

"Normally those are the sucker horses," Broberg said. "He'd been off 22 months, and I'm normally I'm the one making fun of those people (who claim horses like that)."

But in the back of his mind, Broberg had a feeling Avanzare still had some run in him, and he was confident trainer Tom Proctor would not send out an unsound horse at any level.

"When you look at the connections involved—Proctor is not going to run one that's just gone bad, and I know what the horse has previously done," Broberg said. "I just knew Proctor wouldn't run one with only one race left in him."

With all those elements of doubt working against him, Avanzare showed his quality in the second race of the day, closed from seventh in the field of nine, and surged to the wire under jockey Adam Beschizza to win by four lengths. Avanzare finished off the distance on good turf in 1:03.55.

And sure enough, Broberg was the only trainer who put a claim in. Avanzare is his, but he's still concerned he'll find something physically off in the gelding when he's examined Dec. 29.

"Let's be honest. He beat nothing. My excitement is very cautioned, because I'm expecting to see something horrible in the morning," Broberg said. "With a layoff like that, I'm expecting a tendon, but that's just speculating. We've brought horses back like that and odds are they bow again."

Broberg, who owns Avanzare under the name of End Zone Athletics, said he doesn't expect the gelding to return to his previous graded stakes level, but that doesn't mean he can't target any number of minor stakes in the Southwest or other parts of the country, or remain successful in the claiming ranks. The Imposter, who rallied to finish second Thursday, obviously isn't of the class of grade 1 winner Talco (who Avanzare defeated in the Del Mar Mile) or multiple graded winner Za Approval (who he beat in the Arcadia), but Avanzare surely didn't look like he lacked an interest in racing when he kicked away from his rivals on the Fair Grounds grass.

In 17 starts for Proctor and owners Donato Lanni and John Youngblood, Avanzare had a record of 8-3-3 and earned $549,305. To go along with his graded wins, he placed in the City of Hope Mile (G2T) at Santa Anita Park twice and also placed in the Native Diver (G3) on the Del Mar all-weather track in 2014.

Avanzare was a $52,000 purchase by Youngblood out of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales June 2-year-olds and horses of racing age sale in 2012. Lanni was unavailable for comment Thursday.