HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (AP) -Quality Road broke his own track mark at Gulfstream Park on Saturday while winning the $500,000 Donn Handicap by a record 12 3/4 lengths.
The Todd Pletcher-trained colt covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.49 with John Velazquez aboard, breaking the mark of 1:47.72 he set last year when winning the Florida Derby.
``It felt awesome,'' Velazquez said.
Dry Martini was second, a length in front of Delightful Kiss in third. Mambo Meister was fourth.
The margin of victory was the largest in the Donn's 52 runnings, breaking the record of nine lengths set in 1972 by Going Straight.
Quality Road, who carried highweight of 123 pounds and spotted his opponents between 6 and 10 pounds, joined Harlan's Holiday (2002-03) and Cryptoclearance (1987, '89) as the only horses to win the Florida Derby and return as an older horse to win the Donn.
``There's not too much you can say about a performance like that,'' Pletcher said. ``He showed up, ran one of his best races, and you couldn't be much more impressed than that.''
Quality Road paid $2.80, $2.40 and $2.10, Dry Martini earned $6.20 and $4.20, and Delightful Kiss returned $4.80.
Quality Road has earned $1.3 million while winning six of nine starts and never finishing worse than third.
The 4-year-old colt bred and owned by Edward Evans came into the Donn having made as much news for the races he had missed as those he had run.
The son of Elusive Quality was one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby last spring but missed the Triple Crown races due to a foot injury. He was then scratched from the Breeders' Cup Classic in October when he refused to load into the gate.
Coming into the Donn off a 2 3/4-length victory Jan. 3 at Gulfstream in the Hal's Hope, Quality Road broke on top under Velazquez but yielded the lead to Darley Stable's Past the Point. Quality Road stayed a length behind before carrying Velazquez effortlessly to the front midway around the final turn. He hit the stretch with a five-length advantage and added to his lead the final eighth under mild urging by Velazquez.
``Down the lane I wanted to make sure I encouraged him to finish because up until then I hadn't really done much with him,'' Velazquez said. ``He started to look around a bit, so I tapped him with the whip to encourage him a little and he just drew away from everybody.''
Pletcher and Evans said they will likely give Quality Road some rest before returning May 31 at Belmont Park in the Metropolitan Handicap ``and a couple races at Saratoga (in August) before the Breeders' Cup in the fall (in Kentucky),'' Pletcher said.
Quality Road's victory provided solace for Pletcher, who earlier in the day had Take the Points disqualified after finishing first in the $300,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap and placed fifth in the six-horse field for interference down the stretch. Court Vision, who finished second, was moved up to first.
