Donna Veloce will try to work up to the Kentucky Oaks
Donna Veloce hasn’t run since March, went to the farm for 60 days after a “minor setback” and shows just a pair of three-furlong drills since returning to trainer Simon Callaghan’s stable in early July.
Yet hopes are high among connections and bettors alike that last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up will make the starting gate for the Sept. 4 Kentucky Oaks, as she was among 23 individual betting interests and trading at 16-1 in the Kentucky Oaks Future wager pool as of Sunday afternoon.
The optimism was buoyed on Sunday by Callaghan who noted “we haven’t ruled out” training Donna Veloce up to the first Friday in September. The daughter of Uncle Mo, who has two wins and a pair of seconds in four starts, hasn't raced since winning the Santa Ysabel (G3) on March 8 at Santa Anita Park. She returned to the work tab on July 10 at Del Mar and on Friday drilled a bullet three furlongs in :36.60.
“She’s doing really good,” Callaghan said by phone. “She had a couple of good three-eights works and did them nicely. She’ll breeze a half mile next week. We’re just going to get her back up to full fitness over the next six weeks or so.
“We haven’t ruled out going to the Oaks,” Callaghan added. “She didn’t lose much fitness so I think we can get there from a fitness standpoint. If we need to be patient, we will."
Donna Veloce, a $700,000 auction purchase owned by Kaleem Shah and the team at Coolmore, was pointing to the May 1 Fantasy Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park when she suffered what Callaghan called a “minor setback.” She was sent to the farm in mid-April for a 60-day break and returned to southern California earlier this month.
Callaghan noted the timing will not allow Donna Veloce to have a prep for the Oaks, “but if everything goes well, we’ll try and go straight there.”
Donna Veloce currently ranks ninth with 62 qualifying points for the Kentucky Oaks, which has a maximum of 14 starters. There are three points-paying Oaks preps left on the schedule: the Aug. 1 Monmouth Oaks (50-20-10-5), Aug. 9 Audubon Oaks (10-4-2-1) at Ellis Park and Aug. 15 Alabama (G1) (100-40-20-10) at Saratoga.