Doncho’s first act as a sprinter with star potential came on dirt, but the way he ran Saturday at Churchill Downs, Doncho’s ready for a leading role on turf.
Making his second start at age 5, Doncho ran what almost certainly was the best race of his life, beating the crack turf sprinter Joe Shiesty by three-quarters of a length in the $225,000 Mighty Beau Stakes. A neck behind Joe Shiesty came Troubleshooting, winner late last summer of the age-restricted Grade 1 Franklin-Simpson.
Doncho set a five-furlong turf course record of 55.01 seconds and earned a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure. For what it’s worth, Reef Runner on Saturday at Saratoga won the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes with a 102 Beyer.
Last summer at Ellis Park, Doncho won an allowance race going 5 1/2 furlongs in 59.75 seconds, a world-record clocking. He came back with a narrow win in the Da Hoss at Colonial but came out of a seventh-place finish last October in the Woodford at Keeneland with, trainer Michelle Lovell said, torn microfibers in his triceps.
“It wasn’t as serious as it looked like it might be, but we had to give him a break,” Lovell said.
Doncho began his career on dirt in December 2023 – and began it with a bang. He won his debut at Fair Grounds with a 94 Beyer and came back to win a first-level allowance with the same figure, but he ran below form at Keeneland in the Lafayette before winning the Gold Fever at Aqueduct in May 2024. Lovell switched her charge to turf in April 2025 following a long layoff, but while Doncho reached listed-stakes class a year ago, he looked like a better horse in the Mighty Beau.
Doncho made his 2026 bow in a Laurel Park stakes and ran 13th as the favorite, a very disappointing result, but an excusable one when Lovell found the horse had displaced his soft palate.
Doncho had never had breathing problems in the past, and he didn’t have any in the Mighty Beau. There, for the first time, Doncho, a dedicated front-runner, sat comfortably behind horses before swooping to victory under Jaime Torres.
“Jaime said he settled so well,” Lovell said. “He said he was just galloping behind them. He threw a couple crosses at him, and he went right on by. And he came out of it so good.”
Immediate plans for Doncho? Uncertain. Longer-term plans? The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint is in play.
Lovell already had a runner in that race, Just Might, who finished a troubled 14th in the 2020 renewal at Keeneland but came back to win 10 more times before being retired in 2024 as an 8-year-old. Just Might twice won the Mighty Beau, and Lovell now rides him as the stable pony.
She posted a photo last week of Just Might and Doncho, nose to nose, out on the track at the Churchill Downs training center. Doncho still trains on dirt, and works fast on it, too. At this phase of his career, though, the gelding is a turf sprinter.
◗ Thursday evening’s featured race 7, a second-level, one-turn mile dirt allowance with an $80,000 claiming option, drew a modest group of seven older fillies and mares.
◗ Further Ado earned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure winning the Matt Winn Stakes on Sunday, and trainer Brad Cox reiterated after the race that the Haskell Stakes on July 8 is the colt’s next target.
◗ Explora got a 91 Beyer winning the listed Leslie’s Lady over seven furlongs on Sunday, and trainer Bob Baffert suggested after that race that the filly would be pointed toward the Grade 1 Test over the same trip this summer at Saratoga.
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