Ribo Bobo earns third straight win in inaugural Caixa Eletronica

Last updated: 3/2/14 5:01 PM

Ribo Bobo earns third straight win in inaugural Caixa
Eletronica

Ribo Bobo lived up to the
spirit of Caixa Eletronica at Gulfstream

(Lauren King/Adam Coglianese Photography)

Mr. Amore Stable’s Ribo Bobo had a bumpy start to Sunday’s first running of
the $88,500

Caixa Eletronica, but that didn’t stop the six-year-old bay from leading the
way home in the six-furlong Gulfstream Park contest.

The race is named after the Todd Pletcher-trained Caixa Eletronica, a former
claimer turned graded stakes winner who was lost in a freak training accident
this winter at the age of nine. Pletcher claimed Caixa Eletronica for $62,500 at
Gulfstream Park on March 9, 2011, on behalf of owner Mike Repole. The son of
Arromanches won 11 of 29 races and purses of $1,601,800 for his new connections,
taking seven stakes, including the Fall Highweight, True North and Charles Town
Classic in 2012 and Westchester in 2011.

Overall, Caixa Eletronica won 23 races and nearly $1.9 million in purses from
69 starts. He raced 13 times at Gulfstream with a record of 3-4-2, running sixth
in the Hal’s Hope and third in the Gulfstream Park Sprint Championship in 2011
before being claimed.

Ribo Bobo was making his 17th start at Gulfstream on Sunday, and at the
beginning bumped with Dad’z Laugh, who coincidentally enough is trained by Caixa
Eletronica’s former conditioner, Dubis Chaparro. Mongolian Saturday was quickest
from the gate, setting the swift opening quarter in :22, but Ribo Bobo quickly
moved up to press the Grade 3-placed gelding before taking command through a
half in :44 1/5.

Ribo Bobo separated himself from the rest of the field rounding the turn and
then held off the closing Dad’z Laugh in the lane to score by a half-length
under jockey Paco Lopez. The bay six-year-old was sent off the 1-2 favorite and
paid $3 for the win after completing six furlongs on the fast dirt in 1:08 4/5.

“He’s such a nice horse. He tries really hard all the time
and he’s so smart, it really doesn’t have anything to do with the jockey,” Lopez
explained. “I
thought maybe I’d let someone go and I’d take second. I waited for the #2 (Dad’z
Laugh) because I knew he was the horse to beat. I knew I had a lot
of horse left (in the stretch).”

“We were looking for the finish line, I can tell you that,” said owner Rob Lombardi, admitting to having an anxious moment in the final
sixteenth of a mile when Ribo Bobo received that unexpected and stern challenge
from Dad’z Laugh before asserting his class.

“He’s amazing,” trainer John Servis agreed.

Dad’z Laugh was a good second, 3 1/2 lengths up on Mongolian Saturday.
Hardened Wildcat and Songa completed the order under the wire following the
scratch of Emile.

Ribo Bobo continues to improve with age as he moves farther and farther from the claiming ranks he once occupied

(Kenny Martin/Adam Coglianese Photography)

Pletcher paid tribute to Caixa Eletronica in his remarks when accepting the
Eclipse Award at the January 18 ceremony, held for the second straight year in
the Sport of Kings Theater at Gulfstream.

“To me, Caixa Eletronica personified everything that was terrific about this
game,” Pletcher said. “You can take a horse from a very modest beginning, modest
breeding, and compete at the highest level. We’ll certainly miss him. He’s an
all-time favorite.”

Ribo Bobo was a fitting winner of the Caixa Eletronica, though the Louis
Quatorze gelding hasn’t quite reached the same level as the race’s namesake. Servis claimed Ribo Bobo in February 2013 after the veteran gelding had already
begun his stellar win streak when taking a claiming contest by four lengths in
his five-year-old debut last January. He romped by six lengths in the race from
which he was claimed and proceeded to take his next seven races, usually by easy
lengths, while moving up the conditions ladder.

Ribo Bobo has now captured 12 of his last 13 starts, including five stakes
victories. His only loss was a half-length second in the Fabulous Strike
Handicap last November, but the bay sandwiched that one between easy wins in the
Maryland Million Sprint Handicap and Claiming Crown Express.

Just like Caixa Eletronica, Ribo Bobo is a hard-knocking runner who appears
to have gotten better with age. He made his 50th lifetime start in Sunday’s race
and boasts a 17-5-3 mark to go along with $719,655 in career earnings.

Servis, who won
a six-way shake to claim Ribo Bobo after losing him two starts earlier for
$8,000, said his charge has been able to maintain his winning edge without a lot
of training.

“He looks so good because I don’t have to do much with him,
sprinting. It keeps him looking good. It’s not like the mile and an eighth
horses that you’ve got to train,” Servis noted. “Friday nights we go to an
organic place and get a case of dandelions. Every Friday, he gets them, I can
tell you that.”

Bred in Florida by Rapputi Stables LLC, Ribo Bobo was a $3,000 RNA juvenile
at the 2010 OBS Winter Mixed Sale. He is the only registered stakes scorer out
of the winning Private Terms mare Private Prom Party and comes from the same
female family as multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire and sire Majesty’s Prince.

Ribo Bobo will be pointed to the $100,000 Sir Shackleton at
Gulfstream on the Florida Derby undercard March 29.

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