Dullahan works under Twin Spires for the Belmont Stakes
With a strong third place finish in the Grade 1, $2 million Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on 5 May, 2012, Dullahan is returning to the Triple Crown saga to atone for his defeat in the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes on 9 June, 2012, at Belmont Park.
Donegal Racing’s 3-year-old colt, Dullahan, had a great work under his belt at Churchill Downs, when under exercise rider Tammy Fox took him out to work under the Twin Spires going 1 mile in 1 minute and 43 seconds flat, with the fractions splits of 26 seconds for the quarter mile, 38 3/5 seconds and 51 2/5 seconds for the half mile, went 6 furlongs in 1 minute and 4 3/5 seconds, and completed the work in 1 minute and 17 2/5 seconds for three quarters of a mile.
Dale Romans trainee pleased his trainer after a hectic work, as he galloped 1 1/8 miles in 1 minute and 57 seconds.
“He worked great,” Romans said. “It was just what we were looking for. He seemed to get stronger as he went along.”
Bred in Kentucky by Bena Halecky, Judy and Philip Needham, Dullahan had a long juvenile season with six starts, but he could only convert one start into a victory, the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland’s synthetic surface on 8 October, 2011, going 1 1/16 miles.
Dullahan defeated Majestic City in second and Optimizer in third, as he wrapped up the race in 1 minute and 43.12 seconds.
The Kentucky bred son of Even The Score closed out his 2011 season with a fourth place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last fall at Churchill Downs, to winner and eventual 2011 juvenile champion, Hansen.
Dullahan has done well in the new season, starting off with a game second place finish to, Howe Great, in the Grade 3 Palm Beach Stakes over at Gulfstream Park’s turf course, but he turned in his second victory in the Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, when he took care of Hansen in second.
Dullahan was just 1 ¾ lengths off I’ll Have Another in the Kentucky Derby, and the colt is capable of making up lost ground in the Belmont Stakes.
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