Dhaamer beginning to look good after the Round Table Stakes win
The 5-year-old Mike R. Mitchell trained gelding, Dhaamer, more than fulfilled expectations when he downed an eight horse field in the $72,950 Round Table Stakes at Hollywood Park.
It was a convincing win, and it had to be because going into the race, the Edward Brown owned gelding as considered to be the horse to beat, hence sent as the even money favourite.
Bred in Ireland by Shadwell Estate Company Ltd. Dhaamer since coming to the United States had been ridden by Rafael Bejarano, and the best the rider could do with him was to steer him to a second place finish in the Grade 3 Tokyo City Cup Stakes at Santa
Anita Park on 24 March, 2012.
His seasonal debut was the first time Dhaamer raced on dirt, and looked good in the 1 ½ mile test, but the party was spoiled by, Dynamic Host, who nabbed the race in the dying stages of the race, with the winning time of 2 minutes and 30.22 seconds, as Skipshot
finished third on the day.
The 5-year-old gelded son of Dubai Destination was then introduced to the Santa Anita Park’s unique hillside turf course in the Grade 2 San Juan Capistrano Stakes, where he finished fourth.
Under new jockey Joel Rosario, Dhaamer was anchored near the back in the Round Table Stakes, but rounding off the final bend, the pair made serious headway and posted a massive 4 ½ lengths victory over, Quaintly.
"I thought he was the best horse going in," Rosario said. "Everything worked out that way. That's why I rode him with a lot of confidence. He's a really good horse for the distance. He looked good turning for home. I went inside, then between horses and
soon he was close to the pace. He galloped out really strong."
"There were no instructions today," Mitchell said of race tactics. "When you have a rider like Joel, you don't say much because you just don't know how these things are going to go. He had plenty left in the tank."
On turf, Dhaamer looks like an exciting prospect, and it was his third start in South California – which yielded his first win in many starts.
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