NEWS

Einstein to make 2009 debut in Donn

Posted: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 2:50 PM

EINSTEIN

Bob Coglianese photo

by Mike Curry

Einstein (Brz), an Eclipse Award finalist in both the older male and turf male divisions, will make his season debut on Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $500,000 Donn Handicap (G1).

Trained by Helen Pitts, Einstein closed his six-year-old campaign with a 1 1/2-length victory in the Clark Handicap (G2). The Spend a Buck horse will face a tough test in his seven-year-old debut as the Donn drew ten starters, including six other graded stakes winners as well as TVG Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Albertus Maximus.

Einstein solidified his credentials as one of the top older horses in the United States with a banner 2008 campaign in which he posted wins in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic Stakes (G1) and Gulfstream Park Turf Stakes (G1) and bankrolled $1,114,938. He finished sixth last year in the Donn.

Albertus Maximus won three of seven starts last season for trainer Vladimir Cerin and owners Brandon and Marianne Chase. A five-year-old by Albert the Great, Albertus Maximus closed the year with a 1 1/4-length score in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Albertus Maximus will make his first start for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin in the Donn.

Arson Squad has posted a Grade 2 win in each of the previous three seasons, but the Brahms gelding remains in search of his first victory at the highest level. Arson Squad enters off a fourth-place finish, beaten by a length, in the Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) on November 29 at Aqueduct.

A. P. Arrow, the runner-up in the 2008 Donn, will try to halt a six-race winless stretch. The seven-year-old A. P. Indy horse last visited the winner’s circle after a win in the 2007 Clark Handicap (G2). Grade 1 winner Great Hunter will attempt to end an eight-race winless stretch.

Multiple Grade 2 winner Anak Nakal will attempt to improve upon a fourth-place finish in the Hal’s Hope Stakes (G3) on January 3 at Gulfstream in his season debut.

The Donn also drew Grade 2 winner Sir Whimsey, Grade 3 winner Finallymadeit, Hal’s Hope runner-up Bullsbay, and multiple Grade 3-placed winner On Board Again.

Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor

Donn H.