Doncho bounces back to win Mighty Beau

Doncho ran down pacesetting Joe Shiesty and won the $225,000 Mighty Beau Stakes by three-quarters of a length on Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Talk about a bounce-back performance. Doncho, trained for JAL Racing by Michelle Lovell, made his 5-year-old debut April 18 at Laurel in the King Leatherbury Stakes. There, he contested the early pace, threw in the towel in upper stretch, and finished 13th.

Saturday, in the Mighty Beau, a five-furlong grass dash, jockey Jaime Torres and Doncho broke sharply and briefly contested the lead inside Joe Shiesty. But Torres let Joe Shiesty go on, letting his mount settle in third as Schwarzmeier came onto the scene and pushed Joe Shiesty through an opening quarter mile in 21.30 seconds.

Torres cleaved to the rail around the far turn and past the quarter pole, Schwarzmeier already flagging as he came outside to engage Joe Shiesty. Joe Shiesty’s a tough horse on the lead, but Doncho always was doing the better work, pushing past at the furlong grounds and edging clear to the wire.

Troubleshooting, the 3-2 second choice behind 7-5 favorite Joe Shiesty, closed decently but was third best, a neck out of second. Doncho ran five furlongs on a firm course in 55.01 seconds and paid $27.92 to win.

Doncho has had his moments – first on dirt as a 3-year-old and on turf last year, when he won the Da Hoss at Colonial. By Mo Town out of Sassy Redhead, by Henny Hughes, the gelding is back on his game at age 5.

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