Donegal Momentum must topple seasoned veteran to win 4-year-old debut
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To win his 4-year-old debut Thursday at Fair Grounds, Donegal Momentum must beat, among others, a horse who made his career debut at Fair Grounds more than two years before Donegal Momentum was foaled.
Carded for third-level allowance horses or $80,000 claimers at about one mile on grass, the Thursday feature, race 9, drew nine entrants. Eight are in the field’s main body, as Arro Smash is entered for the main track only. Two others, Confidence Game and Accretive, have combined to make one grass start among their 35 outings, suggesting their connections hope the race is rained off grass, which is possible with storms forecast from Tuesday into Tuesday night.
While the Thursday feature could go with a short field, there’s nothing short about the 9-year-old Team Block homebred Another Mystery’s career. A third-out maiden winner at Arlington Park in May 2019, Another Mystery launched his career 2 1/2 months earlier at Fair Grounds and is still going strong.
Now a 12-time winner from 45 starts, Another Mystery is pushing toward $1 million in career earnings for trainer Chris Block, and if his current form holds, he’ll hit that milestone. Fifth of 11 last out in the 1 1/2-mile John Connally, Another Mystery finished a competitive third in his previous start on Dec. 21 going 1 1/16 miles in the Buddy Diliberto Memorial at Fair Grounds. His last two Beyer Speed Figures, 91 and 92, stack up solidly in Thursday’s contest, and while Another Mystery was once best suited for turf marathons, at this point in his career, middle distances might be his game.
Even with limited entrants, the pace of this race ought to be solid. Swiftsure definitely goes forward, Wonderful Justice has done his best recent work racing in the vanguard, and Donegal Momentum has been the first-call leader in half of his six starts.
Donegal Momentum earned a 91 Beyer scoring a front-running, two-length win in the one-mile Gio Ponti Stakes in October at Aqueduct, but he surely ran better when third last out in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby despite his figure dipping to an 89.
Stretched from one mile in the Gio Ponti to 1 1/8 miles, Donegal Momentum, trained by Tom Morley for Donegal Stables, had to work harder to make the front in California than he did in New York. He held his lead past the eighth pole at Del Mar before succumbing to a pair of foes, Formidable Man and King of Gosford, who were clearly better than anyone he’d defeated in the Gio Ponti. In his next start, King of Gosford won the Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile, while Formidable Man captured the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile on March 1.
Javier Castellano must like Donegal Momentum, as he has a return call in what will be his first Fair Grounds mount since the 2022-23 season.
◗ Just a Touch, making his first start since the Iowa Derby last summer, dazzled in a first-level dirt route allowance Saturday, winning by 10 1/2 lengths and clocking 1:42.23 for 1 1/16 miles. That’s the fastest Fair Grounds time at the distance since Olympiad went a track record 1:42.01 in the Mineshaft Stakes during February 2022, and Just a Touch earned a career-best 102 Beyer.
◗ Simply Joking, scratched with a developing virus from the Rachel Alexandra Stakes on Feb. 18, returned to the work tab going a half-mile in 50.20 seconds March 2.
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