Dullahan to start his 2012 campaign on a winning note in the Palm Beach Stakes
The 3-year-old colt, Dullahan, is ready to begin his Triple Crown quest with a run in the Grade 3, $150,000 Palm Beach Stakes at about 1 1/8 miles on turf on 11 March, 2012, at Gulfstream Park, where he will head a field of 6 runners in a race that is restricted
for 3-year-old colts.
Twice on dirt and once on turf, Dullahan failed in all three attempts to break his maiden as a juvenile, but with a surprise run in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland over a surface he had never tried before, synthetic.
Maybe it was a good day for the Dale Romans trained colt, but whatever it was the $240,000 earnings that the colt earned by winning that race should be enough to get him in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby to be held at Churchill Downs on 5 May, 2012.
The Kentucky bred son of Even the Score, Dullahan in the Breeders’ Futurity destroyed Majestic City’s hopes of winning the race by using his long strides to overhaul the runner in the stretch and win the 1 1/16 mile race in 1 minute and 43.12 seconds, as
Optimizer finished a strong third after being way back in the race.
Out of mare Mining My Own by Smart Strike, Dullahan was expected to do well in his season closer Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at about 1 1/16 miles dirt race at Churchill Downs last fall.
Though it was Hansen all the way from gate to wire, Dullahan could’ve finished far worse than he did, thanks to a strong finish in the stretch Jerry Crawford owned colt finished fourth on the day behind Hansen, Union Rags and Creative Cause.
Dale Romans and Jerry Crawford won the Palm Beach Stakes with Paddy O’Prado when he was still a maiden.
“The (turf/synthetic angle) worked for us with Paddy. It was a little different situation with Paddy; we didn't have a lot of choices,” Romans said. “We were just trying to get earnings. This horse showed he could come off synthetics and run well on the
Churchill dirt. He came out of the Futurity and ran pretty good in the Breeders' Cup. It just seems like a sensible thing to do with him."
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