Pimlico Special: The longer the better for Armando R
Ted Black- May 18, 2023
Trainer Damon Dilodovico claimed Armando R for a very modest sum of $16,000 roughly 18 months ago for owner Ronald Cuneo. But he will be the first to admit that he deserves little credit for doing so.
In the weeks leading up to reaching into the claim box to halter Armando R, Dilodovico had his doubts about making the move. Although Dilodovico may have been hesitant to make the move, Armando R has certainly validated that reluctant decision by recording five victories and earning over $265,000 in 14 starts since, including consecutive scores in the Japan Turf Cup and the Richard W. Small Stakes.
The seven-year-old Blame gelding seeks his third stakes tally in Friday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Pimlico Special at the Preakness Stakes distance of one-mile and three-sixteenths. The Special is race 12 and one race prior to the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.
“When my owner, Ron Cuneo, mentioned that he wanted me to look at claiming him for him all I could do is come up with a number of negatives and reasons not to,” Dilodovico recalled. “My son, Nicholas, looked at him and thought that we should claim him. So, right a couple of days before that race, Mr. Cuneo said he was going to move on making the claim. So, I took him and he’s done really well for us but I can’t really take any of the credit for it.”
In his first start for Dilodovico and Cuneo on New Year’s Eve in an allowance event at Laurel Park, Armando R finished a nondescript sixth, but he returned a month later to kick off his 2022 campaign with a victory.
Several months later on June 12 he captured a two-turn allowance race as the 3-2 favorite by nearly four lengths then following a modest effort at Delaware Park he returned to Laurel to post consecutive victories in the $100,000 Japan Turf Cup, which was taken off the turf, and the $100,000 Richard Small Stakes.
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“I’ve always felt like the further he goes the better,” Dilodovico said. “He won an allowance last fall at one-mile and an eighth pretty nicely and then he won the Japan Turf Cup at a mile and a quarter. He came back after that and won the Richard Small, and at that point we were really looking forward to the next group of those longer stakes. But he didn’t move forward like we had hoped.”
Armando R finished fifth of seven runners in the $100,000 Robert T. Manfuso Stakes and then was ninth and last in the $100,000 John B. Campbell, beaten 10 and 14 lengths, respectively. Nimitz Class won both those events and maintained his razor-sharp local form to capture both the $100,000 Harrison Johnson Memorial and the $100,000 Native Dancer.
Armando R, meanwhile, opted for a pair of allowance events, taking the most recent of the two.
When Dilodovico glanced at the entries for the Pimlico Special, a race steeped in tradition dating back to the famed match race between Seabiscuit and War Admiral, and later won by 18 runners that would later garner horse of the year, including Invasor, Mineshaft, Cigar, Citation, Skip Away and Assault, he realized Armando R would be among the outsiders. But he breathed a sigh of relief when he did not see Nimitz Class among the entrants.
“Anytime they put up that type of purse for a graded stakes you know you’re going to see some good ones in there,” Dilodovico said. “But I was surprised not to see Nimitz Class in there. He’s been so good and he’s beaten me pretty soundly a couple of times, so not seeing him in there gave me a little boost of confidence. But there are some really good ones in there, and not being able to run on Lasix is a little bit of a concern.”
While Armando R is listed as the longest shot on the board at 15-1 on the morning line with regular pilot Horacio Karamanos aboard, Rattle N Roll is the 9-5 morning line favorite with Law Professor a the solid 5-2 second choice.
Rattle N Roll won the recent Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes at Keeneland for trainer Kenny McPeek, and last fall he captured the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby. Law Professor captured the $125,000 Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct last out and two starts earlier won the $150,000 Queens County over that strip for trainer Rob Atras.
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