Dullahan Tunes Up for Breeders' Cup
Dullahan, upset winner of the Grade I Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity, breezed five
furlongs shortly after the renovation break over a “fast” Churchill Downs track
in 1:03.60 under Kent Desormeaux on a crisp Saturday morning beneath the
Twin Spires in preparation for the $2 million Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
(GI) or the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (GII).
“He went really well today, but we still don’t know yet,” trainer Dale Romans said. “We’ll know after his work next weekend.”
Donegal Racing’s Dullahan, a half-brother to Kentucky Derby Presented by
Yum! Brands (GI) winner Mine That Bird, earned a free ride to the
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with his win in the Breeders’ Futurity, a Breeders’ Cup
“Win and You’re In” race, and recorded fractions of :13.20, :26.20, :39 and
:51.20.
“The track was slow and he put in a workman-like five-eighths,” Desormeaux said. “He was very responsive and energetic. He’s a serious horse and he made a move for me in the Dixiana (Breeders’ Futurity) that I haven’t had a horse do for me in 10 years.”
Preakness Stakes (GI) winner Shackleford, another Breeders’ Cup hopeful in the Romans barn, breezed five furlongs in 1:03.80.
“He looked good and he’s going to the Dirt Mile,” Romans said.
Michael Lauffer and Bill Cubbedge’s Shackleford, who was second in
the Indiana Derby (GII) to Wilburn after a disappointing performance in
the Travers (GI) at Saratoga, recorded fractions of :13.60, :26.20, :38.60,
:51.40 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:17.20.
Another Romans worker on Saturday morning was My Due
Process, a 2-year-old daughter of Henny Hughes who captured the Monmouth
Park NATC Futurity. The bay filly went considerably faster in her five furlong
work than her two star stablemates and stopped the clock in 1:01.60.
Priscilla Vaccarezza’s My Due Process, a $30,000 OBS Selected 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale graduate, was previously under consideration for the inaugural Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint, but will be pointed to the $150,000 Pocahontas (GII) at one mile on the main track Oct. 30 at Churchill Downs.