No credible excuses upon Shackleford’s blunder in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap on 11th February
The Grade 1 $500,000 Donn Handicap on Saturday, 11th February at the Gulfstream Park was the first stepping stone for the 2012 campaign of the 2011 Preakness Stakes winner, Shackleford. Accumulating all the credits from the previous racing year,
the four-year-old colt of Forestry out of Unbridled, was sent into the race as a favourite.
It was beyond the imagination of anyone, let alone the trainer, that the horse would not even be able to get placed and finish a dreadful seven on a field of eleven.
It was a long journey that got Shackleford to become the part of the lineup for the Grade 1 Donn Handicap. Under the ownership of W. D. Cubbedge and Michael Lauffer, Shackleford shot off with his racing career on 26th February 2011 in the Grade
2 Fountain Of Youth Stakes.
One year down the line, the Kentucky bred has groomed up and matured tremendously with his earnings ranging around $2 million, having won one of the three legs of the Triple Crown and being the undisputed favourite for the race despite the fact that he was
against another Triple Crown contender.
Last time that Triple Crown contestants threatened each other in the Donn Handicap was in 1992. It was Ruler On Ice who had won the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes in 2011 and was among the lineup for the 2012 Donn Handicap.
The calibre of competition that Shackleford was against included Trickmeister who was unbeaten before the race and Flat Out who had claimed the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup.
With Shackleford’s own standards and abilities, changed the expectations that were associated with him.
Before the race, the trainer said:
“There are more options for older horses. The Donn’s a mile-and-an-eighth. We’ll see how far he wants to go. Maybe we’ll be pointing towards the Breeders’ Cup Classic or maybe he wants us to back him up to a mile.”
The horse has been as active and energetic as any and every trainer will wish for. He has always been readily up for working and galloping when and where required. The horse has hardly ever had any health issues, no fever and no sores whatsoever.
The only two significant losses that came his way include the Grade 2 Fountain Of Youth Stakes on 26th February which he missed due to banging his head on the gate and getting a little worked up before the race.
The next dent came with the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on 6th November where he finished fifth and the reason for the failure according to the trainer was the mile and a half distance.
However, the outcome of Shackleford’s most recent outing has rendered the trainer speechless and without any valid excuse.
“He came out of the race fine and I really don’t have any major excuses,” Romans said on Monday. “I thought he acted real well before the race. He really seems to be maturing. It could have been the track. He’s never run good in the mud before. He’ll bounce
back. We’ll just train on a little bit and then figure out where to go next.”
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