Before the third race at Churchill Downs July 2 becomes official, the phone rings, rings, and rings. When a foal does what? Damon’s Mound happened on a cloudy day in Louisville, that tends to happen.
Damon’s Mound reached 12 wins 1/2 in the first time in his career.
“The owners got the call before the horse cooled down,” Michelle Lovell, Damon’s Mounds trainer, said by phone from her summer facility at Colonial Downs . Racetrack in Virginia. “I can’t even count all the offers.”
The owners, Texas-based Cliff and Michele Love, also don’t count. And they don’t even think about selling.
Damon’s Mound, the son of a first-year male Girvin , maybe a horse can do some good. In fact, he may be the special one.
That’s why Lovell loaded Damon’s Mound into a truck and drove him north to Racecourse Saratogawhere he will run in the $200,000 Saratoga Special (G2) at 6:30 p.m. on August 13 with four other 2-year-old ponies.
While the phone blew up after that first score, plans were made for a trip to the Spa. Lovell is confident her horse can make a mark at the major tournaments.
“I think he would be a perfect fit,” Lovell said. “I have a lot of confidence in him. He’s very talented, really smart, a real class horse. I’m very excited about that. Obviously, he’s about to face a beautiful horse. actually in Steve Asmussen Gulfport . “
Gulfport, son of Uncle Mo and owned by William L. Heiligbrodt, Corinne Heiligbrodt, Jackpot Ranch, Oaks Whisper Farm and Coolmore Stud, has won two career starts of 19 1/4 lengths combined, including 12 1/4 long run in Bashford Manor at Churchill 4 July.
This will be the first horse that Lovell, who has been training since 2003, has set foot in Saratoga. However, she competed here. She is a jockey, riding under the name Michelle Hanley, from 1989-94 and also 1999. Lovell said she rode in Saratoga in 1993 and had “two or three seconds” and tied together. room with Hall of Fame racer Julie Krone.
The Florida-bred Damon’s Mound was the first horse she had with Loves. Damon’s Mound, a domestic cross, is the first foal from the San Antonio Stroll mare to be staked by Love, who has won three of his 14 career starts. Love named the pony after a place in Texas where he lived as a child.
The Loves, who will not be participating in the Saratoga Special, have started 107 horses since 2013, according to Equibase, and have 17 wins.
On Damon’s Mound’s debut, he and runner Gabriel Saez made a slow break but finished a pillar ahead of the others in a six-way race that took place at 1:09.84.
“That was the only flaw,” Lovell said. “He broke a bit slow but he got himself, as we thought, he’ll get into the race pretty quickly.”
Lovell has won three high school races in her career — two with her 6-year-old mare Change of control and the other with another six-year-old mare, Error who also requested Santa Margarita Stakes (G1) for coach Phil D’Amato.
Saratoga Special Schools, in order of posting location, is made up of: Lea Farms’ Super Chow who broke her maidenhood at Gulfstream Park July 2 on his first try for Jorge Delgado; Damon’s Mound; Celeritas Racing and Rudy Rodriguez’s Valentine’s Day , ninth at Saratoga’s July 16 Sanford Stakes (G3) for Rodriguez; Airport; and Michael McLoughlin’s Owen’s Leap Monday at Bashford Manor for Tom Amoss.
