Stakes high as Lea eyes repeat in Donn Handicap
When Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott saddles Lea late Saturday in the $500,000 Grade I Donn Handicap, he won’t have to think very hard nor look very far to envision the history he seeks to match.
Adjacent to the walking ring at Gulfstream Park is a statue of Cigar, one of history’s greatest thoroughbreds. Under Mott’s care, Cigar won 16 consecutive races, a streak which included back-to-back victories in the Donn in 1995 and 1996. Should Lea prevail, he will become the first horse to successfully defend a Donn title since the great Cigar.
Shared defense of the Donn crown could very well become the only thing in common between the two Mott pupils. While Cigar won eight races between Donn victories, a virus sidelined Lea for the remainder of 2014 after his 1 1/2-length victory in the Donn.
With the Donn win on his resume, Lea could have easily been sent to stud. However, Mott kept him in light training through recovery and his connections opted to bring him back for a 6-year-old campaign. The son of First Samurai rewarded his handlers with a win in his return in the Hal’s Hope at Gulfstream on Jan. 10, also a race he won in 2014.
To complete the Hal’s Hope-Donn repeat, Lea will again have to be the best at the 1 1/8-mile Donn distance, this year against nine rivals. Few, if any, stakes races during the Gulfstream winter meet go off without a formidable Todd Pletcher trainee in the field. In the Donn, the perennial meet-leading trainer will send three accomplished 4-year-old challengers to post.
Like Lea, Constitution’s 2014 campaign was curtailed by injury after winning a prestigious stakes during the Gulfstream winter meet. After taking last year’s Florida Derby, he was knocked off of the Kentucky Derby trail after suffering a hairline fracture in his front right cannon bone. Constitution would recover and race twice late in 2014, with his most recent start a third place finish in the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 28.
Commissioner, who like Constitution is owned by WinStar Farm, had an ankle chip removed after his second place finish in last year’s Belmont Stakes. He was also given the rest of the year off and kicked off 2015 with a third place finish in a Gulfstream allowance race on Jan. 10.
On the best form of the Pletcher trio is Protonico, who closed out last year with two wins in four graded stakes starts. His most recent race was also the Clark, where he finished second, 1 1/4-lenghts ahead of Constitution.
Lea has been assigned the high weight of 121 pounds in the Donn, which is the 13th race of a super Saturday of racing that features five other stakes races and a special first post of noon. The Donn will be televised live on Fox Sports 1 with an approximate post time of 5:58 p.m.
Other races of note include the $300,000 Grade I Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap. Like the Donn, the 2014 champion will be in the nine horse field for the 1 1/8-mile turf test.
Lochte, who stole last year’s race at 39-1, will be seeking his second straight win after taking the Tampa Bay Stakes on Jan. 24 at Tampa Bay Downs. It is highly unlikely the betting public will let the gelded son of Medaglia d’Oro get away at that high of a price Saturday, however the morning line has him as the fourth choice. Imagining has been given early 3-1 favoritism.
The counterpart race for fillies, the $150,000 Grade III Suwannee River Stakes, has drawn a field of 13. The Pletcher-trained Sandiva, who will be making her fifth U.S. start, is the 7-2 early favorite.
The fourth graded stakes on the card is the $100,000 Grade III Fred W. Hooper Stakes. Twelve older horses will contest at a mile with Race Day, yet another Pletcher trainee, listed as the early 3-1 choice.
Rounding out the stakes docket are a pair of $75,000 5-furlong turf sprints which each drew a field of nine. Sophomores will run for black type in the Texas Glitter Stakes, while older horses will contend in the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint.
