Martin’s Italian Trainer of the Month Juan Arriagada got an offer most people wouldn’t refuse after his (then)-2-year-old filly Strike D’ Oro won her career debut on July 4 at Presque Isle Downs in an eye-popping 57.57 seconds for the 5-furlong distance.
“I had a call from someone who wanted to give me $125,000 or $140,000 for her, something like that, and I said no,” Arriagada said this morning. “Everybody likes money. We’re working for money. But I was not interested in getting money for her, so we’ll see what happens.”
After he turned down the potential buyer, Strike D’ Oro posted a second and a first in her two subsequent starts at Presque Isle Downs, the victory coming on Oct. 9 in a 6-furlong race in 1:09.81. Both victories were achieved over the Erie, Pa., racetrack’s synthetic Tapeta Footings surface with jockey Antonio Gallardo aboard.
Strike D’ Oro has been nominated to the $125,000 Gasparilla Stakes on Jan. 10 at Tampa Bay Downs, but Arriagada is unsure about entering her in the 7-furlong contest. He was forced to scratch her from an allowance/optional claiming event here on Dec. 20 after she became sick, and he won’t decide until next week if she is sufficiently recovered to make her stakes debut so soon.
Strike D’ Oro may have tried to make a case to compete Wednesday morning, breezing 4 furlongs in 48 1/5 seconds – the fastest workout of 25 that day at the distance – with Martina Rojas in the saddle.
“It was a good breeze, but I was a little concerned because when she passed the wire she got a little tired,” Arriagada said. “So I’d like to breeze her one more time and then decide (on the Gasparilla). We take care of all our horses the same way, but when you have one like her who is something more special, you always worry about them a little more.”
Arriagada, who sent out two winners Wednesday, is 10-for-31 at the meet, three victories behind Juan Carlos Avila in the trainer standings. Arriagada is atop the owner standings with seven winners as he tries to win that title for the fourth consecutive season.
At Presque Isle Downs, Arriagada captured the trainer and owner championships with 40 and 33 victories, respectively. He was the leading owner at Delaware Park in 2024 and has been leading owner at the last four meets at which he has competed.
Known primarily as a trainer of claiming horses, Arriagada has claimed nine horses at the current meet while losing six to claims by rival horsemen, putting his stable at 27 Thoroughbreds at last count. He puts in long hours to make correct decisions about which races to enter and which horses to claim, studying Equibase past performance charts, watching race videos and observing horses in the paddock before a race before dropping a claims slip in the box.
“I spend a lot of time at home studying races and going back and forth looking over horses and the numbers, and when everything comes together I take a shot. I always have to see them in the paddock (before making a claim),” he said. “The first thing is to try to check how sound they are, that they don’t have a big ankle or a big knee, stuff everyone is looking for. Then, I’ll look at their bodies. More often I like horses with big bodies and more muscle – there are very few times I’ll claim a little horse.
“But some horses can be little and they can run. Strike D’ Oro is that kind of horse.”
Arriagada purchased the Kentucky-bred daughter of Bolt d’Oro-Angle of Attack, by Maclean’s Music, for $27,000 at the 2025 Ocala Breeders’ Sales March Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training, breaking one of his own unwritten rules by claiming the somewhat petite-looking filly. Of course, there are no absolutes in horse racing, and Strike D’ Oro seems determined to prove good things can come in small packages.
“At the sale – I don’t know, it’s weird sometimes – but she had, like, a pretty face, and she had honest eyes,” Arriagada said. “I saw she was little (he estimates she weights about 850 pounds) but I liked the way she breezed. And I thought she was at the right price, even though I don’t really have that kind of money to pay. But sometimes I play with my luck and the horses do good.”
The best horse Arriagada has trained is Estilo Talentoso – who, by contrast, weighed in at 1,285 pounds on the equine scale at Laurel Park in 2021. He purchased her for $15,000 at the 2019 OBS June Two-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale and developed her into one of North America’s top older fillies.
Under Arriagada’s care, Estilo Talentoso won the Grade III Bed o’ Roses Stakes in 2021 at Belmont Park, finished second or third in five other graded stakes (including two Grade Is) and earned $532,538 (Arriagada sold her privately to a partnership before the Bed o’ Roses, but continued to train her for that race and her three remaining starts).
Arriagada, who finished second in last year’s Tampa Bay Downs trainers race with 42 winners to Kathleen O’Connell, has his sights set on winning both the owners and trainers races, but the quest is not all-consuming. First and foremost, he wants to do right by his horses and his employees, a group that includes his son Nicolas, his assistant and exercise rider.
“I think every horseman would like to do something like that (win both titles),” he said. “But it’s more important for me to try to do everything right and try to be successful in whatever I’m doing. You have a lot of good trainers here, so it is always tough.
“Everybody wants to win races, but what makes me happy is when the horses are running good and they try hard. Sometimes your horse runs huge, but they still get beat.”
Around the oval. Trainer Kathleen O’Connell sent out four winners today, tying the Oldsmar oval’s record for most victories by a conditioner on a single card. O’Connell achieved the feat herself in 2003; Gerald Bennett has done it three times; Jamie Ness did it twice; and Chad Brown did it last season.
O’Connell has 2,601 winners in her career.
Her first two today were ridden by Sonny Leon. They won the first race with Fullmoonmagic, a 5-year-old mare owned by Joseph Capriglione. O’Connell and Leon added the sixth with Justamomentplease, a 3-year-old Florida-bred filly owned by Stonehedge.
Justamomentplease was claimed for $16,000 by trainer Ralph N. Baez for new owner Alexis Ruiz-Beltran.
O’Connell won the eighth race with Princess Britni, a 6-year-old Florida-bred mare owned by DiBello Racing and ridden by Jose Ferrer. “K.O.” swept the late daily double by winning the ninth race on the turf with Katies a Lady, a 7-year-old mare owned by Double D Stable and ridden by Ademar Santos.
Samy Camacho and Samuel Marin joined Leon in the two-victory category. Camacho captured the third race aboard Lucky Curlin, a 9-year-old gelding owned and trained by Benny R. Feliciano. The rider added the fourth with Chacarera, a 4-year-old filly owned by Julian De Mora, Jr., and trained by Juan Carlos Avila.
Marin won the second race on Somerset Mia, a 3-year-old filly owned by Peter Mattson and trained by David VanWinkle. Marin also won the seventh on the turf on Willpowered, a 4-year-old colt owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and CJ Stables and trained by Miguel Clement.
Thoroughbred racing continues Saturday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:32 p.m. The first Sunday card of the meet is the following day, also consisting of nine races.
Tampa Bay Downs is open every day for simulcast wagering, no-limits action and tournament play in The Silks Poker Room and golf fun and instruction at The Downs Golf Practice Facilit
