Trainer Dale Romans says Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) winner Dullahan remains right on schedule to make his next start in the $1 million Haskell Invitational (gr. I) July 29.
The son of Even the Score is scheduled to breeze July 21 and will ship to Monmouth Park next week, Romans said when reached by phone at his stable at Churchill Downs. Post positions for the 1 1/8-mile 3-year-old event for 3-year-olds will be drawn July 26.
"He's doing great," said Romans, who anticipates arriving in New Jersey on the day before the Haskell to saddle the Donegal Racing color-bearer. "He's going to be very live in there."
Dullahan, who ran third in the May 5 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), last raced in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) June 9. He didn't have the best of trips at Belmont and disappointed as the 2-1 favorite with a seventh-place finish.
Regular rider Kent Desormeaux was not in the irons that day and Romans confirmed July 20 that the Hall of Fame jockey and the chestnut steed will be reunited in the Haskell. Desormeaux was aboard for both of Dullahan's grade I wins, which include the Dixiana Breeders' Futurity along with the Blue Grass, both on Keeneland's Polytrack.
Dullahan, named for a headless harbinger of death in Irish fairy lore, has been breezing over the Churchill Downs strip since the Belmont and shows a solid pattern of works. His most recent was a five-furlong move in 1:01 3/5 on July 14.
Dullahan
Keeneland/Coady Photography