After turning heads with an Ontario Sires Stakes record mile in her lifetime debut, pacing filly Thatsoveryverynice has garnered attention each time she's set foot on a racetrack. Her winter training performances leading into her three-year-old season caught the attention of an owner so impressed he had to acquire an interest.
Trot Insider has learned that Thatsoveryverynice has been partially sold to Adriano Sorella. He joins trainer Tony Alagna and Toronto's Marvin Katz on the ownership group.
Sorella, who has some horses with Alagna, was down in Florida watching his own horses train when a flashy filly caught his eye.
"I was watching all his three-year-olds training down, and she's a real nice horse. She's training with his big colts, and I didn't really say much to him I just watched," said Sorella. "Marvin Katz was down and they were going over the filly and looking at her and once he left I asked Tony who owned the horse, and he said that Marvin had just bought in to buy a good portion of the horse. Their intentions are to race her back this year and then possibly breeding to Captaintreacherous, because that would be a good cross."
Sorella kept watching the filly train down, then looked back at her races from her two-year-old campaign. The daughter of Vintage Master - Fox Valley Zena won four of her eight seasonal starts and banked more than $191,000. Among her victories were a division of the Eternal Camnation and her Shes A Great Lady Stakes elimination. She finished third in that Final, then finished off the board in her final two outings of the year.
"I noticed that towards the end of the year she tailed off a bit so I asked him what that was all about and I really liked the answers that I got," stated Sorella. "Tony finally said to me 'you're asking a lot of questions about the filly' and I said 'yeah, because I want to buy in on her or buy her.' He said 'I own part of her with Marvin and I don't think there would be any problem with that.'"
The two discussed numbers and Sorella took those figures into consideration.
"I came in [Wednesday] to watch these horse train again...Just before I left -- I haven't said anything to him -- I was just kind of mulling it around in my head. Before we left training, I just looked at him and said 'I'm going to take a piece of that horse' and that's it."
The fact that Thatsoveryverynice is holding her own with Alagna's top pacing colts certainly isn't lost on Sorella. Two of Alagna's colts, American Passport and Racing Hill, are rated in the top 10 of Trot's 2016 North America Cup Spring Book.
"I watched her train and she's going with his big colts. She's going with horses like American Passport every step of the way," the owner continued. "The horse has got a ton of speed."
Not only does she boast serious speed on the track, she's a stone cold stunner off the track.
"She's got the look of a racehorse, she's nice: big built, she's got a big butt on her. The way her stride goes...when you're buying them, that's what you're looking for. Of course, when you're buying babies, you don't know that until they hit the racetrack. So when I saw that I said 'this is a nice horse'.
"She's staked to pretty much everything so it was a no-brainer."
Not only is Sorella looking forward to watching his new investment race in 2016, he's most looking forward to watching her race in person. Located just 15 minutes away from Mohawk, he'll be able to see his filly compete in any local OSS or Grand Circuit events hosted at the Campbellville oval. That said, Sorella feels Thatsoveryverynice has what it takes to compete with the divison's best on the Grand Circuit.
"She's definitely a Grand Circuit filly. The way she goes now, I'm pretty sure she can go with them. It also helps that we still have a great program in Ontario, I think there's nothing to complain about.
"I watched that division last year...there are some really nice horses, like L A Delight. What a fantastic filly she is. And then when they go Grand Circuit, you still have L A Delight, Casie Coleman's got a couple of nice fillies, Nancy Johansson has a nice filly...with what this horse has done, she won the Eternal Camnation at 2, she looks sharp to me and I think she can go with those fillies. She looks like the real deal."
With her speed and looks, Sorella is not only looking forward to seeing Thatsoveryverynice compete. He's stoked on the potential for her foals to hit the ground when her racing career is over. Currently just a racehorse owner, this would be Sorella's first foray into the breeding side.
"The residual value there is really strong because she's shown she was a good two-year-old, if she comes back the same way and is a great three-year-old or a good three-year-old...just the mare factor there, breeding to 'The Captain' or whoever, that residual value right there for a top mare. Good mares are hard to find.
"You don't pull the trigger on a horse that you think is just going to be an OK OSS horse. I think she's in a bit of a different class."