The Saratoga Conversation: Jena Antonucci

Although she made history last year with a horse named Arcangelo (Arrogate), trainer Jena Antonucci hardly ever watches replays of the 2023 GI Belmont Stakes or GI Travers Stakes. She'll tell you why. She has a love for the horses, a love for competition, and, oh, she was good enough to seriously consider a career as a professional golfer. Here it is, the TDN's Saratoga Conversation.

TDN: You were the master of ceremonies at the annual trivia contest at the Racing Museum last month. Asked all the questions. One of the questions was–and it was a layup–who did you train to win the Belmont and the Travers last year? One team got it wrong.

JA: Yes. They did. One team got it wrong.

TDN: Did that surprise you a little bit?

JA: No. It would be rather narcissist to feel like everybody would know that information, even in racing. If you don't have an interest in those things or details, I could see it getting by.

TDN: But they were in a contest at the RACING MUSEUM. You would think they would know the answer was Arcangelo. Do you remember what answer they came up with?

JA: I don't, but it definitely wasn't the right answer (smiles).

TDN: You must have chuckled inside. Just a little bit.

JA: Oh, you have to. You have to have humor and laugh about it.

TDN: Speaking of Arcangelo, what did he do for your career?

JA: Time will kind of tell on that a little bit more. I think all it did was probably open the windows a little more and pull the shades back to what we have been doing … to have a horse that showed off the talent of this team. There have been some added opportunities and conversations that may not have happened without the success of that horse. We are in the developmental stages of a lot of that and bringing young horses along that we may or may not have had that opportunity with.

TDN: It seemed like a lot of women–even little girls–gravitated to that story. That was pretty cool for you, wasn't it?

JA: Yes. It has been neat, and it has been a different hat to wear. There have been some fun little stories that I have heard or experiences that I have had.

TDN: Any little kids come up to you and say, 'I want to do what you do?'

JA: I heard about it happening at the breakfast at the track. Laura (Simiele), who runs that now, said there was a little girl, who was four–if I am telling it right–told her 'when I get older, I am going to be Jena Antonucci.' That's pretty mind-blowing to be honest. Four years old!

TDN: The fact that what you have done has reached out to someone that young must make you feel pretty good.

JA: You and I have talked about this. I was not raised around the Thoroughbred industry. I was raised in the show horse world. My trainers when I was young were all female. The male dominance does not really exist. I did not grow up with that optic. This industry is still very much male dominated and male driven. If our story and other women's stories in what we are accomplishing allows young girls and young women to see this industry without a gender barrier, then we are doing our job. We are doing what we need to be doing and to grow this industry and grow the sport and make it appealing to more females.

TDN: You look at women in this industry: You, Cherie DeVaux, Brittany Russell, Linda Rice … there are plenty of women trainers in the industry and they are doing well. What does that tell you about the way the game has evolved?

JA: Change is inevitable. I think we are creating opportunity by proving it out. The biggest difference is men, by default, had the opportunity and women are creating the opportunity and that is probably the biggest difference. Most women are not going to go the bar and have beers with the guys and shoot the poo and generate business in that capacity. Women are creating opportunity in different ways than maybe men have been able to create it.

TDN: Do you still see barriers?

JA: I don't know if I would use the word barriers. People love to rest on the laurels of statistics. Statistically, we have a lower population of horses that we are training. It's not a fair, genuine way, in my opinion, to compare. How you are going to grow, what opportunity are you going to give people?

TDN: Did you ever find any resistance from male trainers when you got into this?

JA: I don't know. I don't listen to a lot of that stuff. I definitely had a couple of confrontations with people calling them out on their behavior. But it's a 'them' problem and I don't pay much mind or dwell upon it. If they are talking about you, it's clearly because you are making them uncomfortable.

TDN: What is your favorite part about being here in the morning?

JA: The horses. Easy. It's more intimate. You have more relationships with the horses and your team. Playing with them in their stalls and watching them and their personalities. You love all their little personalities even the ones you don't love their personalities. You are watching and nurturing and bringing them along and listening for when they are not thriving. The unspoken part of the morning is probably the best part.

TDN: Is there one horse you have trained that had a quirkiness about him or her?

JA: Doctor J Dub. He went from an eight claimer to a Grade III winner (2016 Turf Monster Stakes at Parx). That was our first graded stakes winner. Watching that horse transform mentally and trust us and trust the process and give us the very best of his ability … He was hard, but he was fun. He knew we got him and respected him. He was fast. Cool horse. He was a New York-bred. He is retired on the farm, and he'll live out his life with us.

TDN: It's important for you to do that, isn't it?

JA: You have to. He didn't owe us anything. It's how we leave the conversation with any new owner. I think that is the biggest fail. Historically, trainers were afraid to have that conversation first because they didn't want to do anything to deter them from getting in and getting involved. In doing that, we shorted the horse. We have always said that winning is easy, acquiring the horse is easy. We have to talk about the last time they go through that finish wire, what we do after that part. The transition point is the most important part of them leaving this career and going to their next career.

TDN: Do you still play golf?

JA: I would love to still play golf. I still have my clubs.

TDN: When is the last time you played?

JA: Too long. Way too long. It's been a couple years, for sure.

TDN: You were pretty good, right?

JA: Yes. I was a single digit handicap. I played on the amateur side of things and did Futures Tour stuff. I loved it, but I didn't love it. I enjoyed the challenge, I enjoyed that it was all on you and the mind balance with it and the art of the game. How to read courses and how and why things are put in play. It all compelled me, but you don't have the relationship with the animals on the golf course. I have always been a competitor; I have always played sports. I did a lot of competitive shotgun shooting before that.

TDN: Wait. What?

JA: Competitive shotgun shooting.

TDN: What the heck is that?

JA: I did Sporting Clays and all that stuff. I don't kind of do anything. If I am going to do it, I am all in.

TDN: What other sports did you do?

JA: I grew up playing softball, soccer, volleyball … pretty much anything, really. I have always been an athlete.

TDN: What was your best sport?

JA: As a child, probably softball.

TDN: Could you hit the long ball?

JA: Yeah. I played catcher, first base, some outfield. Wherever I was needed.

TDN: Fierce competitor?

JA: Yes.

TDN: You don't want to lose at anything.

JA: No.

TDN: You are playing someone in checkers, you want to win.

JA: Why would you not? I competed my entire life. I liked team sports, but I ended up with golf and shooting and showing horses.

TDN: Is there the competitiveness with the horses, too?

JA: Absolutely. It's our work that is getting them there and then trying to find the best and the placement and figuring out the why and the what. That's what drove me to train–the rehabbing and foaling and raising and sales prepping and doing all that stuff inside the industry. That was probably the vein that drove me to go and take my test and become a trainer. I can do all this stuff and I am good at it. And I can compete? That's interesting. That is very organically how I backed into training horses.

TDN: For a while you thought you might make a living playing golf.

JA: There was definitely heavy consideration. Obviously, sponsors in that conversation is a little easier in a golf club than it is in Thoroughbred racing. Golf is an extremely transient life, more so than it is in this world. At least with horse racing, if you are up at Saratoga, you are here for an X-block of time. Same with Kentucky and Florida. With golf, you are basically on the road for 30 to 40 weeks a year if you want to be serious at it. That is very difficult to have any kind of life or normalcy. I gave it a serious go for about two years, mostly through Florida because there were so many opportunities.

TDN: How many holes-in-one you have?

JA: I think we had one.

TDN: Most people don't have any.

JA: Most people don't have a Belmont win either (smiles).

TDN: There are two questions I ask everyone. The first is if there was a movie made about your life and you could pick the actress to play you, who you got?

JA: Jennifer Garner. She just gets it. She is rooted and down to earth.

TDN: The other question is, if you could have dinner with three people–living or dead–who would they be?

JA: Dinner with my grandfather again would be a definite. You always want to have that one more conversation. Probably someone along the lines of a Queen Elizabeth or a Margaret Thatcher. One, because of their leadership through adversity. Being females in positions that they had to eat a lot of poo to navigate things and see the bigger picture to be able to make big decisions and make things happen. There is always a lot to learn from those kind of people. And someone like an Elon Musk, who is very big-minded to navigate life and business and make things that are bigger than themselves, that will impact people for the long haul.

TDN: Is there a place on earth that you have not been to that you want to go to?

JA: I'm sure there is. Somewhere warm and somewhere quiet and somewhere that has fishing and pretty water.

TDN: Sounds like a deserted island.

JA: That would be great!

TDN: What is your taste in music?

JA: All over the place. You name it, it doesn't matter. It depends on my mood. I have a very weird brain that I can hear a song a handful of times and the lyrics stick. I like everything.

TDN: You like Bruce Springsteen.

JA: I do.

TDN: Taylor Swift.

JA: I do. Everything.

TDN: Last concert you saw live.

JA: Pink. Elton John was right before that.

TDN: I've asked this to a few people, too. Baseball players have walk-up music. What would be your walk-up song if you were bringing a horse to the races?

JA: This goes back to the (2023) Belmont. This would not be a song that I would ever have picked, but whoever put it in for Fox (coverage of the Belmont) did a great job. “The Bones” by Maren Morris. It's the music behind the interview that Maggie (Wolfendale) did with me. The story telling in that song was excellent.

TDN: You can't say horse racing and you can't say golf. What is your favorite sport?

JA: To watch? Football. To partake in? I don't care. Anything competitive.

TDN: Favorite football team.

JA: I have shifted over the years between pro and college. Being in north Florida most of the time, I do enjoy the Gators. I am from South Florida, so I always have an eye on the Dolphins. But they break your heart so often that it's hard to be a diehard. (laughs) But I do love their new coach (Mike McDaniel). He is pretty phenomenal. He gets it.

TDN: Do you cook?

JA: I do. I can cook anything. I enjoy it. Usually when you have teenagers around, you make what they will eat. It's the biggest adaptation in life.

TDN: Tell me about your other two 'children.'

JA: The dogs? (smiles). They run my life. Lucy is now three and Mando is about a year and a half.

TDN: How much joy do they bring you?

JA: Tons. It would suck to be up here for an extended period of time without them being here even though they drive me crazy. It's always nice to have that comfort spot when the day has gotten quieter or whatever you are dealing with in the racing world. They don't care.

TDN: What is your thought about the filly in the Travers?

JA: It's not my decision. It's above my paygrade.

TDN: Is it pretty cool to have a filly in the race?

JA: I have very opposing opinions on the topic. One, I don't know that there is much of a gain to do it for the filly. Part of my enthusiasm is a little bit tempered by the immense scrutiny that our industry is navigating. I feel we are all trying to make responsible, good decisions to highlight how everything is really going the right way for these horses and how the public feels about us. It's great, it will be fun. She is a tough filly, she is super classy. I don't have any doubt or question about her ability and how good she is. But then I take that step back and say, ok, let's look at the bigger picture. How does this help us as an industry and how does it help us? I'm torn on it.

TDN: How often to you watch last year's Belmont or Travers?

JA: Rarely. I lived it. The other side is, emotionally, it brings you back to that point in time every single time you watch it. And, obviously, there is a lot that happened in the Belmont and the Travers. I will forever be grateful for it, but I'm very much a person who looks ahead. I will never take it for granted.

TDN: Favorite horse racing movie.

JA: It wasn't a horse racing movie, but “The Horse Whisperer.” It was a real cool movie because it was about the connection between humans and horses. A well-done movie.

TDN: The job you have, there are no days off, very few vacations–I would assume.

JA: You could ask a lot of people this. We do six days, we have a walk day. And when I first did that, I felt so guilty. That I should be there, we should be there working every day. That is so unhealthy.

TDN: If you have a day all to yourself, what are you doing?

JA: A quiet day is lovely and sometimes doing absolutely nothing is doing something.