Congrats filly Flutterby coasted to a three-length victory in the LR Gold Mover Stakes (1200m) at Gulfstream Park on Saturday but the real star of the show was her trainer Jerry Bozzo.
The Florida based conditioner is 94 years young. “I’ve run out of adjectives she’s so honest,” Bozzo said. “I knew she was going to run that way today. She told me so herself.”
Flutterby (4f Congrats – Zoobie by First and Only) had won the LR Cut the Charm Stakes at Calder as a late-season juvenile and she was coming off a second in the G2 Princess Rooney Stakes at Gulfstream last month.
Breaking alertly in the Gold Mover, she went to the front and shook off co-leader Ultimate Shopper to score geared down. “She did it easy,” jockey Luca Panici said. “She relaxed and I just touched her a few times in the stretch to keep her attention.”
Bozzo, a former civil engineer and World War II veteran, received calls from racing secretaries across to country attempting to recruit Flutterby but he decided to keep her close to home. “She was absolutely ready,” he explained as the winner returned to scale. “There were a couple of speed horses that challenged her, but she doesn’t care. She’s confident in herself.”
Flutterby has done little wrong this summer and Bozzo hasn’t made any plans for the immediate future. “I may give her some well-deserved time off,” he said. “But there are some bigger races coming up in September.”
The blossoming daughter of Vinery sire Congrats is a younger half-sister to Zoobstick (Groomstick) who has also won races in Florida for Bozzo.
