Key Points
- Bentornato named 2025 Florida-bred Horse of the Year after major race wins.
- Live Oak Stud and Khozan received top breeder and stallion awards for 2025 achievements.
- Multiple other Florida-bred champions and breeders recognized at FTBOA Awards Gala.
Bentornato is the 2025 Florida-bred Horse of the Year in a vote by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association board of directors and announced at the FTBOA Awards Gala held Monday night at the Circle Square Cultural Center in Ocala.
Bentornato won the $1.84 million Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 1, becoming the sixth Florida-bred winner of the race with Eillo in 1984, Precisionist (1985), Smile (1986), Cherokee Run (1994) and Big Drama (2010). He is the 30th Florida-bred winner of a Breeders’ Cup race. He also won the listed Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes in September, earning $1,190,350 in his two starts in 2025 and was an Eclipse Award finalist in the champion male sprinter division.
Bred by Susan and Charles Chu’s Tanma Corporation, Bentornato finished 2025 with career earnings of more than $2.3 million for owners Leon King Stable Corporation and Julia C. and Michael Iavarone. The Iavarones purchased a 25-percent interest for $1 million at the Keeneland Championship Sale at Del Mar a few days before the Breeders’ Cup. Bentornato is by Bridlewood Farm stallion Valiant Minister out of the Put It Back mare Her Special Way…