Avanzare Moves Ahead for Lanni

Donato Lanni is no stranger to the winner's circle, having picked out the likes of recent Grade I winners Bayern (Offlee Wild) and Dortmund (Big Brown), but Sunday at Del Mar, Hill 'n' Dale Farm's director of bloodstock services made the trip as co-owner of a graded stakes winner. Lanni, in partnership with John Youngblood, owns Avanzare (Grand Reward), who swept down the center of the course to take the GII Del Mar Mile at the oceanside oval.

Avanzare, acquired by Linda Sims for just $1,100 as a Fasig-Tipton October yearling, was purchased by Lanni for $52,000 at the 2012 OBS June sale.

“I bought him from an amazing woman, Linda Sims,” Lanni recalled Monday. “I bought him for John Youngblood, who is a longtime friend and partner of mine, and he let me stay in for a piece of the horse, which was very nice of him. I usually don't own them. I usually just buy them.”

Avanzare was already gelded when he worked a quarter in :21 3/5 at the June sale three years ago as hip 362.

“I really liked the horse when I saw him,” Lanni said of the juvenile's appeal. “He was just a really cool horse. He didn't work super fast, but he worked really well and he did it nicely.”

Things didn't go entirely smoothly for Avanzare, who didn't make it to the races until November of his 3-year-old season.

“We had him ready to run as 2-year-old and then he hurt himself,” Lanni explained. “We had a setback which cost us a year and a half. So we gave him the time. We knew he had ability, so we thought we should just give him the time he needed. We got lucky and he came back to what we thought he was.”

Avanzare opened his career with a front-running victory over the Churchill Downs turf in November of 2013 and was first or second in his first seven starts. He suffered his first off-the-board finish when a close-up fourth in the GIII Arlington H., but rebounded to become Lanni's first graded stakes winner as an owner when he won last summer's GIII Washington Park H.

The year started off promisingly for the 5-year-old when he captured the Jan. 31 GII Arcadia S., but the gelding was soon on the sidelines again.

“We had to give him eight months off–he had a little throat surgery,” Lanni said. “We needed to take care of that, but now he's back.”

Avanzare rehabbed at Kirsten Johnson's Kesmarc before rejoining trainer Tom Proctor's stable at Fair Hill.

“Kesmarc did a great job with this horse during the time he was in Kentucky,” Lanni said. “They did a fabulous job making him happy and taking care of him. Then Tom got him ready to run and win here first time out.”

Lanni was at Del Mar for Sunday's race, but admitted he wasn't sure how the return would go.

“I didn't know what to expect with him being off eight months,” he said. “But Tom had him ready to win. With Tom and Gary [Steven]'s confidence, I was just a spectator.”

Asked if the experience of owning a graded stakes winner was any different from watching a horse he had picked out win a big race, Lanni said, “I get goose bumps no matter if I own them or don't own them. If I have something to do with them, I get goose bumps.”

While he hasn't heard any official word on how Avanzare exited his Del Mar victory, Lanni assumes all is well with the bay.

“You know the saying no news is good news? That's the way it is with Tom,” Lanni laughed. “Tom is a great communicator, but if he had called me this morning, I would have been a little worried. Because he wouldn't be calling me to see how my night was.”

As for a possible next start, Lanni said, “We'll leave it up to Tom and see what the horse tells him.”

While his short-term plans may still be undecided, Avanzare's long-term is set.

“He has a home for life with me,” Lanni said of the gelding. “We're going to take care of him and pick the right spots and keep the horse happy.”