Lea vs. Strong Field in Donn Repeat Try

Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm's Lea (First Samurai) faces nine formidable rivals as he bids to go back-to-back in Gulfstream's GI Donn H., which will be part of a Fox Sports 1 broadcast of The Jockey Club Tour along with the GI Gulfstream Park Turf H., GII San Antonio Invitational S. and GII San Marcos S. from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. EST. Transferred from Al Stall, Jr. to Bill Mott for a 2014 campaign, Lea annexed this venue's one-mile GIII Hal's Hope S. last January before setting a new track record (1:46.86) in front-running fashion when besting champion Will Take Charge (Unbridled's Song) by 1 1/2 lengths in last year's Donn. Setbacks kept the chestnut in the barn for the rest of the season, but he reemerged for the Hal's Hope Jan. 10 and showed a different dimension to close from last. Prayer for Relief (Jump Start) was third that day. 

Leading conditioner Todd Pletcher has three chances to win a record third Donn–he scored in 2010 with Quality Road (Elusive Quality) and two years ago with Graydar (Unbridled's Song). Sumaya US Stables's lightly raced Protonico(Giant's Causeway) annexed the GIII Smarty Jones S. at Parx Sept. 1, but was seventh behind Bayern (Offlee Wild) in the GII Pennsylvania Derby 19 days later. He bounced back to take Aqueduct's GIII Discovery H. in the slop Nov. 1, and finished a close second to next-out GII San Pasqual S. winner and today's San Antonio contender Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday) in Churchill's GI Clark H. Nov. 28. 

Stablemate Constitution (Tapit) finished one spot behind Protonico in the Clark, and boasts strong local form. He earned the “TDN Rising Star” distinction for a debut score going seven furlongs here last January, and took a salty optional claimer that included eventual Classic winner Tonalist (Tapit) and subsequent GI Wood Memorial S. winner Wicked Strong (Hard Spun) Feb. 22. The Twin Creeks Racing Stables and WinStar Farm colorbearer emerged as a major GI Kentucky Derby threat with a neck success over Wildcat Red (D'wildcat) in the track-and-trip GI Florida Derby in March, but was forced to miss the Triple Crown races after suffering a hairline fracture of his cannon bone. Fourth with some trouble in his return at Big Sandy Oct, 12, he stepped forward markedly in the Clark and could find himself well placed early here after breaking from the rail. 

WinStar's Commisioner (A.P. Indy) rounds out the Pletcher troika. Second to Tonalist in the GII Peter Pan S. in May, he filled the same slot–and came up a head short of posting the 28-1 upset–in the GI Belmont S. the following month. The homebred did well to finish a close third here Jan. 10 after dueling on the front end, and has every right to step forward.

Mrs. Susan Roy's Sloane Avenue (Candy Ride {Arg}) is an intriguing invader with plenty of upside. A nine-length debut winner going a mile over the Lingfield Polytrack last February, the Jeremy Noseda pupil bounced back from an off-the-board stakes try on the Newmarket grass in May to take a Kempton handicap on the all-weather in August. He could only manage an eighth-place run in Belmont's GIII Hill Prince S. going nine furlongs on soft grass Oct. 4, and once again returned to winning ways back on the synthetic in Kempton's Hyde S. Nov. 19. 

“He trains on [the dirt] good,” Noseda said. “I brought two horses out here for Paul [Roy] that had dirt pedigrees, and they both won. [Sloane Avenue] is the third one I've brought over for him. So I hope it's third-time luck.” Noseda also saddled Awesome Act (Awesome Again) to a victory in the 2010 GIII Gotham S. and Wilko (Awesome Again) to a score in the 2004 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile for the Roys. “We were looking to go to Dubai with him to run in the Maktoum Challenge, because we were very keen to give him a run on the dirt, because he has a real dirt pedigree,” Noseda noted of Sloane Avenue. “Then I had a talk with Paul Roy, and he said, 'Would there be anything we could go for in America?' So I had to look around. I looked at the [GI] Malibu at Santa Anita, and honestly, in Santa Anita, if you go to California, you're going to take on possibly the best dirt horses at the moment–Shared Belief (Candy Ride {Arg}), Bayern and California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit)–so I looked here and saw this race. So [Roy] and I had a chat, and we decided, 'Let's be brave and go for it.' So here we are.”