Donoharm eyes Lone Star Handicap

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Donoharm will bring a strong last-race company line into his next start, the Grade 3, $200,000 Lone Star Park Handicap on May 26, according to trainer Bret Calhoun. The horse was second in an Oaklawn Park allowance won by Moonshine Mullin, who one start later captured the Grade 2 Alysheba at Churchill Downs on May 2.

As for Donoharm, he has since been training at Lone Star. He finished 5 3/4 lengths behind Moonshine Mullin in the April 11 allowance, a 1 1/16-mile race in which he tracked the pace as the winner wired the field and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 108. One start prior, Donoharm had won an optional $100,000 claiming race at Oaklawn.

“He’s doing very, very well,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun said the decision was made to pass on Lone Star’s first stakes for older route horses, the Texas Mile, in favor of the 1 1/16-mile distance of the Lone Star Handicap. He is hoping the added ground will make for a more favorable pace scenario.

“The Texas Mile looked like too much speed,” Calhoun said. “It was pretty hot fractions. He does better when on more of a comfortable pace.”

Cliff Berry has the mount on Donoharm, a three-time stakes winner for Wayne Sanders and Larry Hirsch.