by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — For about the last three weeks, his connections have wanted to provide Warning Zone with a short sojourn on the farm but it seems like the horse would prefer to be on the clock.

“It’s kind of funny that we’ve been talking about giving him a break because he’s been racing every week,” explained Scott DiDomenico, his conditioner. “But he’s been so sharp it’s hard to lay him off. We keep saying he needs some time off, maybe just a couple of weeks, and then he goes out and throws down a mile in 1:49 or 1:50 while pacing hard all the way to the wire. When he’s racing like that, it’s hard to give him a break.”

The 7-year-old altered son of Jate Lobell and Cambridge United is owned by Mildred Ventriglio and entered DiDomencio’s barn last July. He has been a consistent and durable performer throughout his career with 116 starts, 29 victories, 22 seconds, 19 thirds and $655,751 in purse money.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Warning Zone has banked $655,751 in his career.

He earned just shy of $200,000 at age two and captured the $200,000 Kentucky Sire Stake Final at The Red Mile as well as a $108,500 division of the Bluegrass, also in Lexington, while under the tutelage of Virgil Morgan, Jr.

He faced the starter nine times as a 3-year-old, including a start in an elimination of the North America Cup, but only managed one triumph and put $20,505 in the bank which was the worst season of his career.

Warning Zone rebounded from a disappointing sophomore campaign during his 4-year-old season by amassing nearly $160,000 from 42 trips to the post and followed this trend for the next two years by collecting another $143,778 in 2010 and just under $81,000 in 2011.

This year, the gelding has paced six miles at the top rung of the claiming ladder at Meadowlands Racetrack with four wins, one second, one third and $53,145 to show for his efforts. He also established his lifetime standard of 1:49.1 at the Meadowlands on Jan. 21.

“He has some bad legs,” said DiDomenico, who is coming off a career year in earnings with nearly $1.8 million. “He has some suspensory problems and he’s kind of a sore horse, so we just have to work on him a little harder with cold water, ice and all that stuff, but he’s just a big, gentle horse that doesn’t do much wrong. He’s really nice.”

In order to keep his suspensories tight and cold, DiDomenico does not jog Warning Zone and he thinks the changes in racing at the Meadowlands, as well as the transition from Yonkers, may have been the contributing factors as to how well the gelding is performing at the moment.

“He gets a lot of swimming time and doesn’t hit the track much,” said the 29-year-old Jamesburg, N.J., resident. “He’s gone through that stage of his life and he’s kind of done with it.

“Jordan Stratton drove him at Yonkers a bunch of times when he kept drawing the seven or eight hole,” said DiDomenico, who has trained for eight years now. “He was taken off the gate and not pushed up the inside and I think it got his confidence back. Also, he definitely likes the Meadowlands better because there are only two turns for him to negotiate instead of four and the new style of racing there. Brian Sears has done a great job of driving him, too, and he really has just been lights out there.”

Warning Zone’s stablemate, Handsoffmycookie, who was one of last year’s top 2-year-old filly pacers and runner-up in the Sweetheart, Breeders Crown and Three Diamonds, was just brought back from a winter break and will be pointed to a mid-May return in a New York Sire Stakes contest.

“She grew a lot and filled out and today (Feb. 15) was her first day of training,” DiDomenico said. “We trained her a mile in 2:40 and everything looks really good right now. She’s eligible to a lot of races, including the Lismore and Lady Maud at Yonkers and the Breeders Crown, but we are going to do a lot in New York and her first start back will be in a sire stake there. We are going to see how she responds to everything, but right now she is good and we are very excited, so we will just see how it goes and hope for the best.”

The plan for Warning Zone is to remain in exactly the same spot and take it from there.

“He is very sharp right now, but I think it would break his heart trying to race against Golden Receiver and the better free-for-allers,” DiDomenico said. “He has so much money on his card; it’s hard to go anywhere else with him, so right now this is kind of the game plan. Hopefully, he doesn’t get claimed, but if he does that is just part of the business. I will tell you though he’s a really nice horse and it’s been really fun to go to the Meadowlands and win. That’s certainly not a bad option.”