WinStar Farm and Twin Creeks Racing Stables Constitution led throughout the $500,000 Donn Handicap (G1) Saturday at Gulfstream Park to record his fourth victory in as many starts at the south Florida track.
Four-year-old Constitution, whose three previous wins at Gulfstream include the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) last year went to the front soon after the start of the 1 1/8-mile contest, with stablemate Commissioner, also owned by WinStar, in hot pursuit.
Constitution rolled through six furlongs in 1:11.18 and opened up a two-length lead in mid-stretch, and then held off a late charge by 2014 Donn winner Lea to win by three parts of a length in 1:49.51.
“The horse dictated it. He’s a speed horse. He had a good post and I wanted to take advantage of that. It worked out perfect,” said Javier Castellano. “I sent him out of the gate. My only concern was to break good out of the gate and get a good position. I didn’t see much speed in the race. The horse was phenomenal and just galloped along. Turning for home, he just took off again. Galloping out, I liked the way he did it today.”
“I think his first race back was trainer error; I didn’t have him quite tight enough and he stumbled at the start and was a little rank. I thought he ran really well in the Clark (Handicap, Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs, where he was third) over a track that probably wasn’t conducive to his running style,” trainer Todd Pletcher added. “Coming back to Gulfstream on a track that he’s perfect on, we were optimistic but it was a very good field with the last year’s Donn winner who had a very impressive prep over the track. We were excited about him and happy he ran to his training.”
Constitution became racing’s newest millionaire; with the win his earnings now stand at $1,004,096. He will stand stud at WinStar when his racing career is complete.
WinStar Farm’s President, CEO and Racing Manager Elliott Walden said he’s looking forward to Constitution’s 2015 campaign.
“It’s exciting to have him back. They were smoking early on. Right now we’re looking to maybe take him to Dubai (March 28, for the $10 million, Grade 1 World Cup),” he said. “That’s been an objective, but we’ll see how he comes out of this race.”
