Millionaire Ivan Fallunovalot thrilled racegoers even if they had trouble pronouncing his name.
An eight-time stakes winner after being claimed for $25,000 at Oaklawn Park, where he twice won the King Cotton, the Arkansas-owned gelding has been retired. Daily Racing Form reported Friday that Ivan Fallunovalot has been accepted at Old Friends Farm in Georgetown, Ky., where he is expected to arrive in September.
"It was a good journey, and it's time for the next chapter," said Bismarck's Lewis Mathews Jr., who claimed the now 8-year-old gelding in March 2014 at Oaklawn. Sired by Valid Expectations, Ivan Fallunovalot won 17 of 32 starts and earned $1,010,903, joining Groovy and Texas Chrome as Texas-bred millionaires.
Tom Howard trained Ivan Fallunovalot for Mathews until he died of cancer in March during the Oaklawn meeting. Kathy Howard, the trainer's widow, saddled the gelding in his last start, a fifth-place finish in Oaklawn's Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap April 14 that boosted his earnings past $1 million.
Ivan, as he was known around the barn, did it the hard way, sprinting, usually on or close to the pace. Some of his biggest wins came when ridden by Hall of Famer Calvin Borel. In time, it took a toll on the gelding, a crowd favorite at Oaklawn and Oklahoma's Remington Park.
"After the meet at Oaklawn I sent him to Kentucky to have him completely checked over, one end to the other, and they noticed he was developing arthritis in his ankles -- the wear and tear of racing," Mathews told Daily Racing Form. "After everything he did for us, we decided to retire him."
Ivan Fallunovalot remained in Kentucky, Mathews said, pending his acceptance by Old Friends. That came on Thursday, prompting the owner to say, "If that didn't happen, I was going to bring him to Old Friends Bismarck," his farm in Hot Spring County.
Besides the King Cotton in 2015 and 2016, Ivan Fallunovalot won four straight editions of the David M. Vance Stakes at Remington Park and the Grade 3 DeFrancis Memorial Dash at Maryland's Laurel Race Course in 2016.
Ivan Fallunovalot reached peak form in 2015 with five triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, topped by a 107. Mathews entered the gelding in that year's Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.; Ivan Fallunovalot finished a troubled ninth on the card that Triple Crown winner American Pharoah took the featured Classic in his final start.
"The Breeders' Cup was quite an experience," Mathews said. "A $25,000 claim and he takes you to the Breeders' Cup."
Sports on 08/04/2018