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Midnight Cry Stables’ Einstein, 2-time winner of the Gulfstream Park Turf (G1), won’t go for the three-peat in that race, but will race in the $500,000 Donn Handicap (G1) on Gulfstream Park’s main track on Saturday, January 31.
The 6-year-old Brazilian-bred son of Spend a Buck, Einstein, finished sixth in the Donn Handicap last year behind Spring At Last before returning 3 weeks later to win the Gulfstream Park Turf. Einstein had won that race in 2006 and finished third in 2007.
Einstein earned a graded-stakes victory on dirt in the Clark Handicap (G2) at Churchill Downs, home of the 2009 Kentucky Derby, last November 28 in his last start, and race horse trainer Helen Pitts-Blasi will point to Gulfstream’s premier race for older horses, the Donn Handicap, knowing it will be a tough challenge.
Included in the Donn Handicap undercard is one of the Kentucky Derby prep races, the $150,000 Holy Bull Stakes (G3) at 1 1/8 miles.
“The dirt situation with him isn’t so much that he can run on either surface,” race horse trainer Helen Pitts-Blasi said Sunday morning after breezing Einstein an easy 5 furlongs in 1:03 over the main track at Gulfstream Park.
“He loves Churchill Downs. He skips over that track. It’s a different kind of surface down here. It’s sandier and deeper and he doesn’t get over it as well. It will be a challenge.”
Pitts-Blasi said Einstein would be nominated to both horse races just in case plans change. She realizes the cache that would come from being a Grade 1 winner on two surfaces — not to mention the increase in the horse’s value as a stallion. Regardless of the outcome, she’s proud of what Einstein has already accomplished.
“He’s 6 years old and still sound, thanks largely to running on the turf most of his life,” said Pitts-Blasi. “Grass racing has been much easier on him. The win in the Clark already helps him as a stallion. He’s proven himself and proven what he is: a sound, hard-running horse.”
Pitts-Blasi may be best known for saddling future 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin for his smashing career debut at Gulfstream early that season. After a majority interest was sold to Jess Jackson and partners, the horse was transferred to race horse trainer Steve Asmussen. There are no 3-year-olds at Curlin-level in the barn this year, Pitts-Blasi says.
“Most of my 3-year-olds are all a little behind the eight-ball,” she said. “I’ve got a couple Unbridled’s Song colts and a couple nice fillies. They’ve taken their time coming around.”
One of those Unbridled’s Song colts is Booksense, a half-brother to stakes winners Hurricane Bertie and Allamerican Bertie. He has yet to post a workout this winter.
Horse racing news edited from www.gulfstreampark.com.
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