Damon's Mound rejoins Lovell's barn after freshening
Damon’s Mound, who cruised to a 12 1/2-length debut win last July at Churchill Downs before capturing the Grade 2 Saratoga Special by 3 1/4 lengths over Gulfport, arrived this week at trainer Michelle Lovell’s Fair Grounds barn following a freshening.
Damon’s Mound’s 2-year-old campaign ended on a sour note, the colt dueling and fading to sixth in the Iroquois Stakes, his first try around two turns. Since the race shape worked against Damon’s Mound, Lovell can’t be sure the son of Girvin can’t handle a route of ground.
“We didn’t learn anything from it,” Lovell said. “We just gave him some time to grow up; we weren’t going to head to the Breeders’ Cup off that race.”
Lovell doesn’t anticipate Damon’s Mound making his 2023 debut until late March or April, possibly at Keeneland.
Shipping along with Damon’s Mound was 7-year-old gelding Just Might, who won a remarkable seven stakes races during 2021 but had just one victory from seven 2022 starts. A versatile sprinter, Just Might has five turf wins and six on dirt.
Not coming back to Lovell’s barn: Change of Control, who was retired from racing following her second-place finish Nov. 27 in the Autumn Days Stakes at Aqueduct. By Fed Biz out of America’s Blossom, by Quiet American, Change of Control went 10-10-7 during a 40-start career that earned her connections $983,925. Lovell said the mare will be bred this winter to Uncle Mo.
◗ One quick downpour Thursday was all it took to rain the card’s lone grass race onto dirt, but the weather looks better for Sunday’s featured seventh race, carded for about 1 1/16 miles on grass and open to second-level allowance horses and $50,000 claimers.
The race drew 14 horses, including two main-track-only entrants, and will be limited to eight starters on turf. Straight Answer made his first seven starts in Ireland before racing for trainer Brad Cox on Nov. 18 at Churchill Downs, where he had a relatively luckless journey in an allowance race like Sunday’s. He’s the pick over Monition, first-timer turfer Rising Empire, and Fair Grounds grass-loving Artie’s Rumor, a four-time winner over the local lawn.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.