Michael Iavarone builds his stable with one primary objective: to compete on racing's biggest days. With Bentornato (Valiant Minister), that mission has already been accomplished and there are still bigger goals on the horizon.In the seven months since he bought a 25% share in the talented sprinter for $1 million at the Keeneland Championship Sale, Iavarone has gone to the winner's circle for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint and traveled to Dubai to watch his horse put in a tenacious runner-up performance in the G1 Golden Shaheen. This weekend, Iavarone and his usual vibrant entourage will be in Saratoga to see Bentornato face reigning sprint champion Book'em Danno (Bucchero) in the GIII True North Stakes.“I'm the only person who buys his horses for events. That's the way we do it,” said Iavarone. “With Bentornato, it has worked out incredibly well and now the best part is that we live pretty much on Palm Meadows grounds so we got to see him train every day when he was down there.”Bentornato first came on Iavarone's radar when the Jose D'Angelo trainee owned by Leon King Stable Corp. ran a massive second at 28-1 odds in the 2024 Breeders' Cup Sprint. The Florida-bred ridgling didn't race again until the following September, when he earned his fifth career stakes win with a 5 1/4-length score in the Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes, completing the six furlongs in a stakes record time of 1:08.43.“Ironically, for the months leading up to that I would run into Jose D'Angelo everywhere,” Iavarone recalled. “I ran into him at Home Depot. I ran into him at breakfast. At the time I had never had a horse with him, but everywhere I went, he went. After I saw this horse run [in the Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes] I called my bloodstock agent and told him to call up Jose D'Angelo and get me a good deal on the horse.”The connections entered into negotiations, but couldn't quite reach an agreement. Then D'Angelo and the owners were presented with the opportunity to offer a 25% share in Bentornato at the Keeneland Championship Sale. The auction was scheduled just three days before Bentornato was set to line up as the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.D'Angelo said the public format offered a practical solution to a wave of private inquiries.“We'd had all these offers since he was a 3-year-old,” explained D'Angelo. “A lot of people showed interest in him, but we never figured anything out. To me, the sale is an amazing opportunity because to run in the Breeders' Cup, you have to work hard all year, and more than work hard, you have to be lucky to win races and stay sound. You're buying a ticket for the Breeders' Cup.”Sharing that exact sentiment, Iavarone and his wife Jules secured the interest for $1 million.Iavarone at the 2025 Keeneland Championship Sale | Keeneland“I was a little concerned that somebody else was going to be as crazy as I was at the time,” Iavarone joked. “Fortunately, I bought right at the valuation I had expected. I think the advantage of that sale is that maybe I paid more than I probably wanted to. But leading up to that, if I would have purchased the horse after his race at Churchill Downs and saved $100,000 overall, between that race and the Breeders' Cup, something could have gone wrong. By buying him at this sale, he had already gone through all his workouts and made it to the race.”After standing front-and-center for the winner's circle photo following Bentornato's front-running, 2 1/4-length victory at the Breeders' Cup, Iavarone was one of the few American owners who made the trip for Dubai World Cup weekend in March.Bound to the inside after drawing post position two, Bentornato chased the pace along the rail in the Golden Shaheen. He angled out and made an eye-catching move down the stretch, but could not catch Dark Saffron (Flameaway), who captured the race for a second straight year.“I think we were all a little bit apprehensive when we drew the rail,” said Iavarone. “That track can be really deep and he was coming off a pretty significant layoff. For all intents and purposes, he took dirt in his face and did things that he hadn't done probably ever, so he more than made a good showing. We were really happy that he showed up and now we move forward.”Bentornato has spent the past month steadily putting in works at Churchill Downs in preparation for the True North. He had a bullet 46.80 half-mile breeze on May 17 and in his final tune-up on May 30, he went the same distance in 48.40 with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard.“Irad is giving me nothing but thumbs up,” Iavarone reported. “He said the horse is really sharp.”Drawing post position three, Bentornato has been installed as the 8-5 morning-line favorite among nine horses entered in Saturday's True North. His primary target in the 6 1/2-furlong contest will be Book'em Danno (Bucchero), who edged him out for Eclipse honors as last year's champion sprinter. The two rivals last competed together as 3-year-olds in the 2024 G3 Saudi Derby, finishing second and third behind international superstar Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}). Book'em Danno enters off a runner-up finish in his 5-year-old debut in the GII Carter Stakes.Celebrating at the Breeders' Cup | Breeders' Cup Eclipse SportswireImagination (Into Mischief), who was second to Bentornato in last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint and then captured the G2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint, comes into the True North after a fourth-place effort in the GI Churchill Downs Stakes.Another one of Iavarone's more recent purchases was the The Puma (Essential Quality), the GI Florida Derby runner-up who had to scratch from the GI Kentucky Derby but is now preparing for a bid in the GI Haskell Stakes on July 18. Iavarone said that while buying into established racehorses comes with its own unique set of challenges, the approach has consistently yielded results for him.“It's just kind of my niche and I'm not saying I'm good at it or not good at it, I'm just saying that it has worked for me,” he explained. “I feel like if I was to try to be competitive at the yearling sales, the barrier of entry is more difficult for me. I feel very rewarded to be able to pay up, but know what I'm getting. I think what Keeneland is doing now is great, because it's giving us opportunities that didn't exist a few years ago and now we can see opportunity in horses that have already raced. It's rewarding for both the new buyer and the seller.”While D'Angelo acknowledged that Bentornato's market value has undoubtedly skyrocketed since the evening of the Championship Sale last October, he emphasized that the dividend the horse has returned to his connections isn't just financial.“In his worst career start he was third,” he said. “Putting a value on a horse like that is not easy, but I think part of his worth–in the case of the Iavarones–is the fun. They bought the horse, won the Breeders' Cup and went to Dubai. Now they're bringing him to Saratoga. This horse is bringing them happiness and fun.”The post Keeneland Case Study: Michael Iavarone on the Big Stage with Bentornato appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.