Untamed Domain finds unusual Derby prep in Dania Beach
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Terry Finley grew up near Philadelphia as an ardent fan of the local NFL team, so of course he’ll be at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Sunday when the Eagles face New England in Super Bowl LII. One minor hitch: He won’t be at Gulfstream Park on Saturday to watch Untamed Domain begin his 3-year-old campaign for West Point Thoroughbreds in the Dania Beach Stakes.
“I’ll have to watch on my phone,” said Finley, the West Point president.
Finley and trainer Graham Motion are looking for the Dania Beach, a one-mile turf race, to serve as a springboard to races that ultimately could lead to the 144th Kentucky Derby on May 5. Untamed Domain has competed exclusively on grass, ending his 2-year-old season with a runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, but the siren call of the Derby is too strong to resist.
“We all know what the Derby does to people, right?” said Finley.
West Point is a minority shareholder in Always Dreaming, the 2017 Derby winner, and “anybody who’s been there on the winner’s stand after the Kentucky Derby, they’ll tell you they can’t wait to get back,” said Finley.
“I’d love to get there again, but at the same time our partners want us to manage their horses in a very responsible way and that’s what we intend to do,” he said.
Untamed Domain, by Animal Kingdom, could have run here Saturday in a more traditional Derby prep, the Holy Bull Stakes, but Finley and Motion agreed on the Dania Beach as a more prudent option.
“We talked about it pretty extensively,” said Finley. “However he runs, coming off the layoff, we’re hoping we can quantify the effort. Running on grass eliminates one variable in the sense we already know he runs well on the turf.”
With the Dania Beach serving as foundation, Untamed Domain will run next in either the March 10 Tampa Bay Derby or March 24 Louisiana Derby in his dirt debut, said Finley.
“If he ends up showing us he’s not a dirt horse, we’ve got a big circle on the Belmont Derby,” a $1.2 million turf race on July 7, he said. “You always want to put the horse’s interests first. We hope to keep the Derby fever to a point where it’s not boiling.”
The return of Untamed Domain is just one of many interesting storylines on another huge Saturday at Gulfstream. The Grade 2, $350,000 Holy Bull and the Grade 3, $100,000 Dania Beach are among five stakes, all for 3-year-olds, on a 12-race program that starts at noon Eastern. The others are the Grade 3, $100,000 Sweetest Chant for fillies on turf and the seven-furlong twins, the Grade 3, $200,000 Swale and Grade 3, $200,000 Forward Gal.
The 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull, which offers 17 Derby qualifying points (10 to the winner), was expected to get Enticed and Tiz Mischief, the one-two finishers in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes last fall, when entries were drawn Wednesday. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has named Joel Rosario as the new rider of Enticed.
