Dornoch, after Haskell triumph, now points to Travers

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Midmorning Sunday, the day after winning the Haskell Invitational Stakes at Monmouth Park, Dornoch, sound and healthy according to trainer Danny Gargan, was on a horse van bound for Saratoga. But while the Travers Stakes there on Aug. 24 remains the colt’s immediate goal, Dornoch won’t stay long at the track.

Gargan said that after Dornoch’s walk day on Monday at his Saratoga barn, the colt will be shipped to Anthony Melfi’s GMP Farm in Schuylerville, N.Y., for four days of treatment in a hyperbaric chamber. Hyperbaric treatment, where one breathes pure oxygen in a pressurized environment, has become commonplace in Thoroughbred racing. Dornoch made a fine physical impression Saturday at Monmouth and came out of the $1 million Haskell in good condition, but Gargan said Dornoch has been fighting a lingering case of skin disease.

“This will get him 100-percent healed up. Me and the groom will go out there and take care of him. He looks good, but we can get him looking even a little better,” Gargan said.

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Dornoch returns on Thursday to Saratoga and will resume regular training Friday, all being well.

“I want to do the same thing as before the Belmont. He’ll have two works, one 15 or 16 days out, then seven or eight days out. Hopefully it goes well and we can keep him at this level,” Gargan said.

Dornoch ran the 1 1/8-mile Haskell in 1:50.31, the race’s second-slowest clocking since 2013, but Monmouth’s dirt track Saturday played deep and tiring, and Dornoch earned a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure. The last five Haskell winners got Beyers between 101 and 103. Six renewals ago, Good Magic, Dornoch’s sire, won with a 98.

Dornoch broke from the rail under Luis Saez and led most of the race, though he was passed at the three-eighths pole by Timberlake and at the quarter pole by Mindframe. Dornoch stuck to the fence the entire trip, while most Saturday dirt races at Monmouth were won by stalkers racing several paths off the rail.

Now, the focus turns to the Travers, run, like this year’s Belmont, over 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga.

“If he can win the Travers, he’ll be 3-year-old champion, and that’s what I want more than anything,” Gargan said.

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