Doncho could be the elite speed in Troy
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Michelle Lovell won with the first horse she ever started at Saratoga when Damon’s Mound captured the Grade 2 Saratoga Special in August 2022. Sunday, the Kentucky-based Lovell seeks her second Saratoga success – with her fourth starter – when she runs the speedy Doncho in the Grade 2, $300,000 Troy Stakes, scheduled for 5 1/2 furlongs on turf.
Doncho was entered to run here last year in the Disco Partner Stakes but got cast in his stall the day he was to ship from Kentucky. Doncho arrived here on Thursday, so he’s already ahead of the game in that regard.
Doncho, a 5-year-old gelding by Mo Town, has won 7 of 13 starts, with most of those wins having come when he’s able to secure the early lead. However, two starts back, in the $224,000 Mighty Beau Stakes at Churchill Downs, Doncho managed to come from third to defeat the pacesetting Joe Shiesty by three-quarters of a length.
“It wasn’t by design, it was just a heady ride by Jaime [Torres],” Lovell said. “We were happy to see him be able to do that. It’s hard when you’re a speed horse and got a target on your back all the time so it was nice to win from a different position.”
Doncho went back to his front-running ways to win the $100,000 William Garrett Stakes at Horseshoe Indianapolis on July 10. The victories in the Mighty Beau and Garrett came after Doncho finished last as the 2-1 favorite in the King Leatherbury Stakes at Laurel Park in April, a race in which Lovell said Doncho flipped his soft palate, inhibiting his airway.
“He’s put together two really nice races, he’s come out of both of them really well,” Lovell said. “Obviously, I have high hopes that he’ll run a huge race, that’s what we’ll need to do. There are some nice horses in there, just hoping to have some good fortune again.”
There are some nice, fast horses in the Troy, including Waralo and John the Beer Man, who look to have enough speed to press Doncho should jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. put him on the lead.
A contested pace would suit Twenty Six Black, the tepid 5-2 morning-line favorite. Twenty Six Black, who finished second to Bring Theband Home in this race last year, took advantage of a hot pace to rally from seven lengths back and win the Harvey Pack Stakes here on July 5, earning a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure. Prior to that, he finished fourth in the Grade 1 Jaipur.
Trainer Horacio De Paz, who won his eighth race of the meet on Thursday, sees Twenty Six Black thriving out of the Harvey Pack.
“Seems like his energy’s good, his workouts have been good, and he’s happy throughout the mornings,” De Paz said. “He has a good spot [post 2] to kind of sit as long as he doesn’t get stuck in the pocket there, but there’s a good amount of pace and it seems like the turf course is playing fair.”
Since returning from a near two-year layoff and moving into the Rob Atras barn, John the Beer Man has two allowance wins and a good third behind Reef Runner and Ag Bullet after setting the pace in the Grade 1 Jaipur on June 6.
In the Jaipur, Atras said John the Beer Man “just didn’t break real sharp for whatever reason. . . . Kendrick [Carmouche] had to use him quite a bit to get up there but he really hung in there. He took that one [awkward] step there, he kind of lost focus for a second and then he picked up the bridle and he finished up with them. I do like his post, he’s outside the other speed.”
John the Beer Man is drawn in post 6 under Carmouche.
Rezasrolex, a winner of 11 of 14 turf starts and 15 of 22 overall, is in from Florida for Joe Orseno. He is drawn in post 8 and figures to be a forward factor under Junior Alvarado.
Determined Kingdom won an allowance race here in June, a race trainer Michael Trombetta used as a prep for the Punch Line Stakes at Colonial Downs, a race he won by two lengths for his 12th career victory.
Dancing Buck, Works for Me, and Coppola are all stakes winners who add depth to this solid nine-horse field.
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