Antoaneta Scores First Victory for Trainer Carl Allsop
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Photo: Jim McCue Photography
Antoaneta won July 1 at Laurel Park to give Carl Allsop his first win as a trainer
Big Lick Farm's Antoaneta emerged from a stretch duel with Sophia Is an Angel a head in front at the wire to give trainer Carl Allsop the first victory of his career July 1 at Laurel Park.
Antoaneta, a chestnut daughter of Skipshot who had been running for trainer and Big Lick Farm owner-operator Reid Nagle in South Florida, ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:40.92 to win the allowance race over firm turf to improve her record to 3-3-0 from nine starts.
"She's a proper, professional filly. The guys have done a great job thus far with her," Allsop said. "They've had her a while, and since I joined the team, she's done nothing but train great (since) moving to Virginia, and she showed it there today. She came out and performed how we wanted her to. She'd been training fantastic into it and she laid it on the line for us."
A native of England, Allsop joined Nagle's operation in April following the winter/spring meet at Gulfstream Park. He worked at Oak Ridge in Ocala. Fla., before he relocated to Nagle's base at the Braeburn Training Center in Virginia and purchased some horses for Nagle at Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic 2-year-olds in Training Sale in May.
"I bought a few nice babies, some prospective 2-year-olds for next year, and we'll see what we got," Allsop said.
At one time Allsop broke babies for Shadwell Farm in Dubai, where he met trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, who brought him to America. Following five years with McLaughlin, Allsop worked as an assistant to another New York-based trainer, Dominick Schettino, and in 2013 began working for trainer Ralph Nicks in Florida.
"I had been with Ralph pretty much since then," Allsop said. "After four years or so, it was time for a change, and here we are now."