Doonbeg back on track

Doonbeg, a 3-year-old Camluck colt eligible to the $1.5-million Pepsi North America Cup and 61st Little Brown Jug, triumphed during his first qualifier of the season Tuesday morning at Mohawk, stopping the clock in 1:55.2 over an off track.

With Jody Jamieson at his lines, Doonbeg left from post two and sat fourth through fractions of :28.4, :58 and 1:27.3 before coming on with a final quarter mile of :27 to notch a three-quarters of a length victory.

The track was rated one second slow by the presiding O.R.C. judges.

“I was happy with [the mile],” said Doonbeg’s trainer, James Dean. “Jody said he was pretty strong and that he didn’t really ask him a whole lot.”

Doonbeg made 10 starts at two, posting a record of 5-2-1 with a 1:52.1 mark, good for $185,799 in purses.

“He’s filled out just a wee bit from last year,” Dean said about the colt, who is a homebred of Clay Horner, Scott Horner and Torlando Farms Inc. “His hopples are about an inch longer than they were last year, but all the other rigging is about the same. He’s a lot sounder now – 100 percent. He had one knee that bothered him last year off and on. Actually, I think he was sounder at the end of the year than he was at the start.

“If you would’ve asked me last year when I got up here if he would’ve gone in [1]:52, I would’ve thought you were crazy.”

Out of the Matt’s Scooter mare St Mattricks Way, Doonbeg doesn’t have notable gate speed, but can come home with the best of them.

“He can’t leave much – he likes to follow,” Dean explained. “He’s quite a horse. When training him, he’ll be going along and he sort of ‘dogs it’ starting out, but the further he goes he just picks the bit right up, and he does it all on his own, too. When he hits the head of the lane, he knows what’s going on.”

In addition to the ‘Cup,’ which holds eliminations on June 10 before the June 17 final, Doonbeg is also eligible to Woodbine’s Burlington Stakes [June 3].

According to Dean, the date for Doonbeg’s 2006 pari-mutuel has yet to be set in stone.

“I haven’t talked to the owners yet, but right now I’d just as soon go to Woodbine and race a start. Because, if we qualify again next Tuesday then we’d have to likely try to get him in for Saturday [May 27], and that’s a little close for what I like.”

Other victorious horses during the Mohawk qualifying session included 7-year-old Cam Terrific horse Terrific McGoozer (1:56.2), 4-year-old Yankee Paco gelding Viva Paco (1:59.2), 3-year-old Astreos filly To Helen Back (1:55.2), 3-year-old Angus Hall gelding Jestabrute (1:58.1), 5-year-old King Conch gelding J N Mystere (1:59) and 3-year-old Western Hanover colt and Little Brown Jug-eligible Western Shore (1:55.3).

(Woodbine release)

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