Damon's Mound will skip Bowman Mill Stakes on Keeneland closing day

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Damon’s Mound, whose two high-profile victories from three starts include the Grade 2 Saratoga Special in August, will not run in the six-furlong Bowman Mill on the closing-day card of the Keeneland fall meet next Saturday (Oct. 29) as had been tentatively planned by trainer Michelle Lovell.

“We were aiming for it, but I don’t think I’d have him quite tight enough,” Lovell said. “He’s going to get a little break and he’ll come back to me sometime around the first of the year” at Fair Grounds. “We’re going to give him a minute to grow up. He’s already done enough this year.”

Damon’s Mound was sensational in his first two starts, winning a July 2 Churchill Downs maiden race by 12 1/2 lengths with an 84 Beyer Speed Figure before capturing the Aug. 13 Saratoga Special by 3 1/4 lengths with an 86 Beyer. He then finished a fading sixth in his lone subsequent start, the Sept. 17 Iroquois going 1 1/16 miles at Churchill.

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“Unfortunately, we didn’t learn a lot when we stretched him out in the Iroquois,” Lovell said. “Being on the lead and taking all the pressure wasn’t what we had hoped for. The race took quite a bit out of him, so I gave him a little time afterward. We’ll draw a line through it and start all over early next year.”

Damon’s Mound, by Girvin, was bred in Florida by his owners, Cliff and Michele Love. Lovell said the colt will get about 60 days at the central Kentucky farm of Lark Carroll, a former racetrack veterinarian now specializing in layups and chiropractic work.

Also missing from the lineup for the $200,000 Bowman will be another promising Florida-bred, Havnameltdown, whose 2-for-3 record includes a win in the Grade 3 Best Pal and a runner-up finish behind his Bob Baffert stablemate, Cave Rock, in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity. The Uncaptured colt was not among the California horses booked to be flown here this weekend.

The Bowman is one of three closing-day stakes, along with the Grade 2 Fayette for older horses and the Grade 3 Bryan Station for 3-year-old turf milers. Entries for those races will be drawn Wednesday.

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