Flat Out takes another shot at Donn

Last updated: 2/6/13 6:30 PM

Two-time Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Flat Out will carry the top impost in the Donn Handicap

(Horsephotos.com)

Although he didn’t give a good account of himself in the Grade 1, $500,000
Donn Handicap
last year, Flat Out eventually proved he was far from being past his prime.
Transferred from trainer Scooter Dickey to Hall of Famer Bill Mott following his
fifth in the Donn, Flat Out later captured the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup for
a second straight year and finished a respectable third in the Grade 1 Breeders’
Cup Classic over a speed-friendly track.

Now seven, the old warrior will take another stab at Gulfstream Park’s
premier race for older horses, which will be renewed Saturday at 1 1/8 miles.
Nine others will oppose the 121-pound high weight, a number of them with the
kind of early zip to ensure an honest pace.

California invader Ultimate Eagle, whose wire-to-wire wins include the Grade
1 Hollywood Derby, Grade 2 Strub and Grade 2 Oak Tree Derby, just failed to last
against a retiring Coil in the Grade 2 San Pasqual on January 5. Although he
will have to contend with Todd Pletcher’s three-start allowance winner Graydar
to his inside, most of Ultimate Eagle’s challengers for early supremacy drew
outside posts.

Take Charge Indy, who led throughout in taking last year’s Grade 1 Florida
Derby, showed further improvement last fall when returning from an
injury-induced layoff. A solid third in the Grade 2 Fayette after leading most
of the way, the Pat Byrne pupil next ran a game second to Shackleford in the
Grade 1 Clark Handicap in what was a merry-go-round chase over nine furlongs at
Churchill Downs.

Another with early foot, as well as a four-race win streak going into the
Donn, is the Phil Gleaves-trained Csaba, who has already landed both the
$100,000 Harlan’s Holiday and the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope at the meet. The Kitten’s
Joy colt started hitting his stride last fall at Calder with back-to-back wins
in the Tropical Park Derby and Grade 3 Fred W. Hooper Handicap, the latter a
dead-heat score with returning Donn foe Ducduc.

Csaba held off Pool Play in the one-mile Hal’s Hope earlier in the Gulfstream meet

(Leslie Martin/Adam Coglianese Photography)

Bourbon Courage and Pool Play will join Flat Out in hoping for a pace
meltdown. Bourbon Courage, the Grade 2 Super Derby winner, subsequently missed
by a length in both the Grade 2 Indiana Derby and the Clark, finishing just a
head behind Take Charge Indy in the latter. Grade 1 veteran Pool Play, a very
deep closer, fell a neck short of missing Csaba in the Hal’s Hope after making
up 15 lengths. The long-winded eight-year-old’s prior stakes tallies have
included the 1 1/4-mile Grade 2 Hawthorne Gold Cup and the 1 3/4-mile
Valedictory at Woodbine.

The Donn’s two longshots are Grade 1 Travers third Fast Falcon, a moderate
second in an entry-level allowance in late December, and the Grade 1-placed
Citrus Kid, who returned to his dirt roots with a Gulfstream allowance score on
December 19 following a 15-month layoff.

Bahamian Squall, who has finished first or second in his past six outings,
might be the one to beat in the Grade 3, $150,000
Gulfstream
Park Sprint Championship. The David Fawkes trainee stretches back out to
seven furlongs here after falling less than a length short in the Sunshine
Millions Sprint, where he broke slowly and was forced to make a wide rally over
a sloppy track. The Gone West colt was an easy 3 1/2-length winner of the
Sunshine State in his previous start, where he defeated returning foes Fort
Loudon and Close It Out.

Fort Loudon won the Grade 3 Carry Back and was a close second in the Grade 1
King’s Bishop last term, but the Nick Zito charge has generally struggled over
the Gulfstream strip where his mark is 5-0-1-1. He also competed on the Sunshine
Millions program, but in the 1 1/8-mile Classic where he finished more than 13
lengths behind Ron the Greek. Close It Out, who caught Bahamian Squall in the
final strides of Jack Dudley Sprint at Calder in November, was a late-closing
fourth in the Sunshine Millions Sprint last time.

Travelin Man, who has won four of five attempts at Gulfstream including the
Grade 2 Swale in 2011, makes his first start since a photo-finish loss in the
Teddy Drone at Monmouth Park in July. He scored his biggest win of the 2012
season in the March 31 Sir Shackleton over Jersey Town.

Providing the pace in the Gulfstream Park Sprint Championship are Good
Morning Diva, a tiring fifth after dueling in the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope, and Big
Grandpa, who steps way up in class after demolishing optional claimers and
claimers at Belmont last fall.