Dom the Bomb to try two turns

STICKNEY, Ill. – Dom the Bomb will stay put at Hawthorne to take further advantage of his Illinois-bred status after cruising to the easiest of wins Saturday in the Sun Power Stakes for statebred 2-year-old colts and geldings.

Larry Rivelli, who trains Dom the Bomb and co-bred and co-owns the colt with Richard Ravin, said Monday that Dom the Bomb will be pointed to the $100,000 Jim Edgar Illinois Futurity on Dec. 13 at Hawthorne. The race will be Dom the Bomb’s first start beyond six furlongs, a distance at which he finished third in a Keeneland first-level allowance race last month and won the Sun Power by 11 3/4 lengths.

Dom the Bomb never faced a threat in the stretch Saturday and wasn’t asked for his best, but his time of 1:11.06 on a slow-playing track produced a Beyer Speed Figure of 92, open-stakes class for a 2-year-old.

Dom the Bomb easily won his career debut Aug. 3 at Arlington but bucked his shin, Rivelli said, and dealt with that lingering injury through late summer and early autumn. When he faded to third in the Oct. 10 Keeneland allowance, Dom the Bomb might simply have been short of fitness.

“It was stop-and-go, stop-and-go, and he was never 100 percent,” Rivelli said. “This is the best he’s been, right now.”

Dom the Bomb is by Bring the Heat and is out of a sprinting mare, but he has a smooth, long stride and looked Saturday like he could run farther, something Rivelli hopes to find out in the Edgar.

“He’s a real long, gangly type of horse, which is unusual for those Bring the Heats,” Rivelli said. “We’ll get an idea of how he handles two turns.”