Dornoch returns to work, next start undecided

Dornoch, the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth winner, returned to the work tab Saturday morning at the Palm Meadows training center in Florida, breezing a half-mile in 49.95 seconds.

Trainer Danny Gargan said he started Dornoch two or three lengths behind another horse to give him a target in the work.

“Not looking for anything special, we know he’s fit, we know he’s fast,” Gargan said.

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Gargan has not yet finalized where Dornoch will make his next start. The two leading options are the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream on March 30 or the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 6.

Entries for the Florida Derby will be taken on March 23.

Dornoch, a full brother to 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage, has won his last three starts beginning with a maiden race at Keeneland last Oct. 14, the Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct on Dec. 2, and the Fountain of Youth on March 2, a race that scratched down to five horses by post time.

Among those Dornoch beat in the Remsen were Sierra Leone, who came back to win the Risen Star Stakes and is pointing to the Blue Grass Stakes; Drum Roll Please, who finished third in the Remsen and then won the Jerome before heading to the sidelines due to injury; and Domestic Product, seventh in the Remsen and winner of last Saturday’s Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby.

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