Trombetta sweeps stakes with Hark Theangelssing, Doubting Thomas
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Michael Trombetta swept a pair of 3-year-old stakes on Saturday at Colonial Downs, with Hark Theangelssing sprinting away in the $100,000 Shenandoah and Doubting Thomas charging home to take the $100,000 Colonial Turf Dash. Colonial’s leading trainer now has five stakes victories at the meet.
“It’s really special,” Trombetta said. “We worked really hard for this meet, and to see the horses come through, means a lot to us. Our whole staff works very hard to pull this off.”
In 75 starts at the Colonial meet, Trombetta has won 16 races, and with his two stakes victories on Saturday, he became the only trainer so far to earn more than $1 million in purse money.
In the Shenandoah, the first of two six-furlong turf stakes on Saturday, Hark Theangelssing went off as the 5-1 third choice in a wide open field of nine 3-year-old fillies. The Virginia-bred earned her first stakes victory in the $100,000 Stormy Blues at Laurel Park in June, but she seemed to give bettors pause after finishing a distant fourth behind Cyfair in the Grade 3 Coronation Cup at Saratoga last month.
“She ran against Cyfair, and she’s in a league by herself,” Trombetta said. “To run against a horse like that and be respectable, maybe it helped her for today. Maybe it sharpened her up.”
Many expected the Joe Orseno-trained filly Spinelli to be the pacesetter, but with a powerful early kick between rivals, jockey Ismerio Villalobos decided to push the issue with Hark Theangelssing. She dueled with Spinelli and Carolyncaroline on the backstretch, completing the opening quarter-mile in 23.05 seconds.
“I was looking for her when she left the gate and I was shocked to see her up so close,” Trombetta said. “But she broke running and [Villalobos] let her go.”
Even after being forced to quicken through a half-mile in 45.42, Hark Theangelssing managed to maintain her short lead, and she got her first reprieve when Spinelli backed off for good while turning for home. Carolyncaroline was game for trainer Lindsay Schultz but relented soon after, allowing Villalobos to peel off by 2 1/2 lengths at the top of the stretch.
Tap Into Grace and Final Accord both made belated bids from the back of the pack, but neither did enough to catch Carolyncaroline, let alone the leader. Villalobos never looked back aboard Hark Theangelssing, who won by two lengths and finished the six-furlong distance on turf in 1:09.17. She paid $12.40 to win.
Tap Into Grace, a filly trained by Brittany Russell, finished third in her fourth straight stakes attempt, three-quarters of a length behind Carolyncaroline.
Hark Theangelssing, now a two-time stakes winner in 2026, has earned all four of her career victories under Villalobos, who has made the most of various running styles in her seven-race career.
In the Colonial Turf Dash, Doubting Thomas was a more predictable winner for Trombetta, but he had far more work to do in the stretch. The 9-5 favorite made his move under Mychel Sanchez from fifth and had to put away several rivals late.
Spidey Man, who defeated the Trombetta-trained colt in an $85,000 allowance last month, again went to the lead in the Colonial Turf Dash, dueling with the graded stakes winner Ewing through an opening quarter-mile in 22.31 seconds and half-mile in 44.89. Both front-runners finished out of the money.
Beautiful War, a 5-1 outsider making his stakes debut for David Fawkes, likely got the best trip under Paco Lopez, making an early move from a stalking position to challenge Spidey Man around the far turn. He took over cleanly at the top of the stretch and seemed intent on kicking clear.
But while Lopez was doing his work to take command, Sanchez was doing his from farther back. The stage was set by the time they turned for home, as Doubting Thomas overtook Spidey Man and the Graham Motion-trained gelding Proton to take aim at the leader.
Beautiful War had plenty left and made it difficult for the favorite, but with a final surge near the wire, Doubting Thomas finally got the job done, surging past to win by a neck. He completed the six-furlong distance in 1:08.66, only slightly faster than his female stablemate in the Shenandoah. He paid $5.60 to win.
“He’s one of our favorites,” Trombetta said. “He shows up all the time and tries hard. He's a real interesting horse and we like him a lot.”
Proton never showed much urgency from fourth and ran on to take third, 1 1/2 lengths behind Beautiful War.
All three of Doubting Thomas’s career victories have come at Colonial, including a juvenile score in the state-restricted $125,000 Jamestown last year. Unlike Hark Theangelssing, the Virginia-bred has never run on another turf course, having made his only other start on synthetic at Presque Isle. Without ruling out other opportunities, Trombetta said he would consider starts at Laurel Park for both 3-year-olds this fall.
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