What has changed for Antonucci since Belmont win?

It’s been a year since Arcangelo was gearing up for the Belmont Stakes, which would make trainer Jena Antonucci the first woman to win a Triple Crown stakes and become the subject of a viral video in the process.

Arcangelo had won the Grade 2 Peter Pan after breaking his maiden, and he went on to win the Travers (G1) and become the champion 3-year-old male of 2023. But a foot injury kept him out of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and he was retired to stud.

It’s a much quieter year for the trainer, who, in addition to training, is a co-owner with Katie Miranda of horseOlogy, an Ocala, Fla., business that offers services related to raising, training and racing horses.

“Everything is well,” Antonucci told Horse Racing Nation last week from Saratoga. “We’re very lucky, very blessed in where we are, what we’re doing. Personal stretching has been fine and good. Just stretching a little without being able to be behind the scenes per se. But now all’s good.”

Her stable isn’t growing, she said, but “I think we’ve just been focused on maybe trying to have a little bit better opportunity with maybe a higher, better-quality of kind of horse. So that part has evolved a little bit and getting some opportunity. But some of the stuff that we were already starting with last year was kind of mid-season. So definitely a little bit different group of 2-year-olds, and some of the 3-year-olds that we’re bringing along, a little bit later-developing, are exciting.”

Like most trainers this time of year, she didn’t want to get into specifics about her up-and-comers.

“I want to be a little careful with all that. And just in the sense of letting the guys and gals have their opportunity to show what they do. … But we’ve got a little 2-year-old that we’re aiming for the stake up in New York, and a nice 3-year-old filly we’ve been campaigning. But I’m always careful about putting the cart before the horse per se and putting a bunch of expectation on them and let them have the breathing room they need to get themselves together.

“Not being coy by any means,” she continued. “But I just want to be a little bit smart about that for them. And like we let (Arcangelo) bring himself along and kind of the same thing for everyone else we’re developing. But a lot of very cute ones and sexy ones and great personality ones and some that are definitely showing some promise. But as you know, they can do funny things in the afternoon that they don’t show you in the morning.”

That little 2-year-old is Whatintheliteral, a Lord Nelson filly bred by Antonucci’s Bella Inizio Farm and owned by Miranda with Craig Steinhart. After going 0-for-2 in maiden special weights at Keeneland in April, she is entered in Thursday’s Astoria Stakes at Saratoga. She’ll be ridden by Javier Castellano, who was aboard for her first two starts as well as for all four of Arcangelo’s wins.

The 3-year-old filly Antonucci mentioned is Do Gooder, a daughter of Good Samaritan who broke her maiden in February on her second try and then tried stakes company, finishing sixth in the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) and fifth last out in the Eight Belles (G2). She is entered in a Thursday allowance at Saratoga, where she is 10-1 on the morning line.

Antonucci said she expects to have about 20 horses at Saratroga.

Despite the acclaim she received as the first woman to win a Triple Crown race, Antonucci said it was more important because it raised awareness of smaller stables such as hers.

“One thing I’ve always really tried to stress and express is, really, it’s not the gender for, for me, it’s about, good horsemen and women having the space to show what they do. And I think of anything Arcangelo did, it was allow us to show it. And people just started watching. We didn’t do anything differently with him that we hadn’t done with bringing along maybe a middle-tier horse. But I think it’s providing an opportunity of consistency and as such to be able to show how consistent our program is and how well our horses look. Modest horses may be running above their form or above the handicapping consistently.

“I think that those are the things I would hope that the industry continues to pay more attention to. And if opening the door to showing that allows owners to be more courageous and brave, to give other people an opportunity, and if that’s what we continue to stretch, then we’re doing what we should be doing.”

Antonucci stressed that this is not a knock on the mega-trainers.

“There’s a place for them. I’m not blind to that. And there’s room for all of us. If what we did showed that we can develop a colt to be a future stallion, then great, I hope we do get more of those opportunities. But there’s a place for everybody. Everyone wants a different kind of communication, everyone wants a different kind of service and wants a different kind of stewarding of their horses. And so it’s recognizing that it doesn’t have to be my way or their way. There’s absolutely a need for all of it. But we have to have all of it to field races and to have a healthier product. And that’s the most important part of creating a healthier space for the industry.”