Luca Panici has maintained a somewhat low profile while launching himself with Gulfstream Park horsemen as a solid, continuous and smart jockey since leaving Italy for a new adventure in the United States.

The 46 -year-old Milan native, however, will make Thoroughbred racing’s center stage Saturday at Belmont Park, where he will compete in his first Triple Crown race while going Sole Volante in the 152 nd rolling of the Belmont Stakes( G1 ).

“He’s a tremendous horse. We have a lot of confidence. He’s one of the most wonderful 3-year-olds in the USA, ” Panici said. “It’s very exciting. I’m going there to enjoy it.”

The son of a jockey, Panici grew up playing soccer with Frankie Dettori across the street from the neighbourhood racetrack. Dettori, four years his elderly, stimulated Panici with his immediate success as a rider at persons under the age of 16, as well as the subsequent glory and fortune he earned in England and in various regions of the world. Panici went on to enjoy success while razzing more than 500 winners in Italy, but racing in the U.S. first grab his attention in 1996, when he spent a wintertime in South Florida galloping for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott for free in exchange for one mount( fifth-place finisher Yokama in a Feb. 19, 1996 allotment at Gulfstream ).

Panici, who returned to South Florida the following winter to rush for tutor Gary Sciacca, razz sporadically at Calder Race Course and Gulfstream for the next several years before making a permanent move to the U.S. in 2009. He has earned 677 hastens in the U.S ., none more important than Sole Volante’s joy in the Feb. 8 Sam F. Davis( G3) at Tampa Bay Downs. The late-closing 2 1/2 -length victory was the son of Karakontie’s first on dirt and constructed him a 2020 Triple Crown player.

Panici has been involved in Sole Volante’s blooming right from the beginning, gust him for coach Patrick Biancone prior to riding him to win in his debut over Gulfstream Park prWest’s territory direction last October.

“I used to work him before he rolled. I manipulated him a couple of goes on the grass and he was amazing, ” Panici said. “Mr. Biancone, from the first day, was sure he would direct both grass and clay. When we worked him on the grunge, he demonstrated the same ability. We figured we had a really good horse.”

Due to injury, Panici had to sit out Sole Volante’s victory in the Nov. 30 Pulpit Stakes, in which future Tampa Bay Derby( G2) win King Guillermo finished third, but he was back aboard for a third-place finish in the Jan. 4 Mucho Macho Man in his first start on grunge. After cracking through with a victory in the Sam F. Davis, Sole Volante staged an impressive revival from 11 th to finish second behind King Guillermo in the Tampa Bay Derby, before the coronavirus pandemic halted hastening at most racetracks and obliged the postponed to the Kentucky Derby( G1) to Sept. 5 and the Preakness Stakes to Oct. 4, uttering Saturday’s Belmont the first leg of the 2020 Triple Crown.

Sole Volante could still develop at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream Park’s spacecraft exercise equipment in Palm Beach County before returning to action in a stakes-quality optional claim payment at Gulfstream June 10. Rating kindly for Panici, Sole Volante trailed his five contenders as stablemate Ete Indien rectify a contested pace, made a wide sweep into the stretch and got up to win by three-quarters of a period under a hand ride.

“There was a lot of speed which is very good for him. Even at Tampa, when we won the Sam Davis, there was a lot of pace where he could relax behind. Last season, it was the same way. I got lucky there was only a six-horse field, so I didn’t have any kind of trouble. He has a highly, very professional mind. It was a nice finish, overpowering the mare that work second in the[ Curlin] Florida Derby, ” said Panici, referring to Shivaree, who pulped Ete Indien before deteriorating late.

Panici’s successful association with Biancone hasn’t been limited to Sole Volante’s manipulates. The ex-serviceman jockey becomes a relied member of the Biancone team, breezing and regularly going Ete Indien, whom he go to an subsidy acquire and a second-place finish behind precede Florida Derby( G1) winner Tiz the Law in the Feb. 1 Holy Bull( G3) during the course of its Championship Meet, and Kelsey’s Cross, whom he leader to an eye-catching triumph in the $100,000 Ginger Punch Stakes June 6.

“Mr. Biancone has earned two or three Arc de Triomphes. Winning two or three Arc de Triomphes is like winning two or three Kentucky Derbies, now. It’s the most difficult race in Europe, ” Panici said. “When you travel for the most wonderful, it’s pretty easy. I’m confident in him and he’s confident in me. We’re doing pretty good together.”

Sole Volante has been rated second in the Belmont Stakes morning line at 9-2 behind Tiz the Law, the 6-5 favorite in a field of 10 3-year-olds.

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