Durango dons blinkers for Dixie Belle
HOT SPRINGS, Ark.– Durango is one of the most promising 3-year-old fillies on the grounds at Oaklawn Park and will attempt to start the meet with a stakes win Friday in the $100,000 Dixie Belle. The six-furlong race is a stepping-stone to the season’s ultimate prize for the division, the Grade 3, $400,000 Fantasy.
Oaklawn’s meet begins Friday with a four-day weekend that extends through Monday. There is a stakes scheduled for each program. The Dixie Belle anchors a nine-race card that includes a third-level optional $50,000 claiming race led by Alsvid, the winner of last meet’s Grade 3 Count Fleet. The Dixie Belle goes with eight, among them Above Fashion, the winner of the Letellier Memorial at Fair Grounds, and Alien Giant, the runner-up in the Landaluce at Santa Anita.
Durango, a $475,000 purchase at auction last May, established herself as a runner of note at Churchill Downs. She won a maiden special weight sprint in good time in her second start Nov. 1 and returned to capture a first-level allowance sprint in a what proved to be a key race Nov. 28.
“She’s always shown a ton of talent,” said Randy Morse, who trains Durango for Tom Durant.
Dixie Belle, Race 8
KEY CONTENDERS
Durango (Last 3 Beyers: 67-76-75)
◗ She will be making an equipment change off a head win Nov. 28.
“I got permission from the stewards to put blinkers on,” Morse said. “In her last race, she ran by [the leader] and opened up and then went to looking around. She almost got beat. It wasn’t because she got tired.”
Durango breezed in blinkers last Friday, going a half-mile in a bullet 47 seconds in the mud at Oaklawn.
“We’ve been working her with blinkers, and her last work was really good,” Morse said. “We’re hoping blinkers keep her more focused and have her finish the race better than she did last time.”
◗ Morse said Durango, by First Samurai and out of the six-time stakes winner Superduper Miss, might make her two-turn debut later in the meet.
“I’m really wanting to stretch her out,” he said. “When she breezes, she gallops out really well. I don’t think she’ll have any problem getting two turns. Hopefully, she’ll run good in this race, and we’ll look at the Martha Washington going a flat mile [Feb. 6].”
◗ Durango will break from post 7 and could get an ideal tracking trip behind Alien Giant, who breaks from post 4.
“The other day when she breezed, she sat in behind a horse, and she was gone,” Morse said. “I’m really happy with the draw.”
Quincy Hamilton, who worked Durango, has the mount.