2 Feb. USA. Donn H. G1. Gulfstream Park. 9f. Dirt. 500.000 $

1.- SPRING AT LAST (E.Coa)
2.- A.P.ARROW (R.Dominguez)
3.- KISS THE KID (E.Castro)


Spring At Last inhaled Grade 1 winner Daaher and Kiss the Kid approaching the stretch and surged clear to a convincing half-length score in the $500,000 Donn Handicap (G1) on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

Trained by Doug O’Neill for owners J. Paul Reddam and WinStar Farm, Spring At Last entered off a 1 1/2-length win on December 26 at Santa Anita Park in a one-mile turf race. That victory came after a layoff of more than eight months following Spring At Last’s 2 3/4-length win in the Etisalat Godolphin Mile (UAE-G2).

“He ran a great a race in Dubai last year, but missed time after that because of a chip in an ankle,” said Elliott Walden, vice-president of WinStar. “Doug [O’Neill] has done a great job bringing him back.”

Sent off at 6-to-1 in the 1 1/8-mile Donn Handicap, Spring At Last broke alertly under jockey Eibar Coa and pressed Daaher and Kiss the Kid for the early lead.

Daaher, winner of the Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) in his previous start on November 24, seized command with Kiss the Kid forcing the issue from second through an opening quarter in :22.95 and a half-mile in :46.26. A five-year-old Silver Deputy horse, Spring At Last rated comfortably in third under Coa on the backstretch and unleashed his winning bid on the far turn.

Kiss the Kid powered past 4-to-5 favorite Daaher, but Spring At Last accelerated by both challengers with a sweeping move and spurted clear to a 1 1/2-length advantage in early stretch.

“We were so excited because he had been training really, really well,” O’Neill said. “He had always shown us he was versatile and obviously, Eibar [Coa] rode a great race. We all needed to see [the Donn performance] before he stamped himself a classic-distance horse.”

Spring At Last could make his next start in either the Emirates Airline Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) or the Godolphin Mile, both at Nad al Sheba on March 29.