Destino d'Oro Overcomes Troubled Trip in Hillsborough

Steve Landers Racing's Destino d'Oro continues to thrive in Florida, rallying off her third straight victory in the Sunshine State with a triumph in the $200,000 Hillsborough Stakes (G2T) at Tampa Bay Downs. However, the March 7 victory was anything but easy. That was not to discount the performance put on by the improving Bolt d'Oro filly, but an assessment given based on the near-disastrous trip the 4-year-old overcame. Racing midpack through much of the 1 1/8-mile journey behind fractions of :23.98 and :49.90, jockey Junior Alvarado had to check sharply on the far turn as longshot Aunt Mo was slowing in her path and Scythian blocked a lane to the clear. Alvarado credited that traffic to favored Whiskey Decision, under Flavien Prat, moving off the fence. Yet, the tenacious filly regrouped and began gaining momentum from last. Picking up steam on the far outside, she rolled down to hook Whiskey Decision, who got the rail trip throughout, and pushed forward to win by a nose. Proctor Street finished third. "(Prat) came out right in the position where I was and made me lose three, four spots right there," Alvarado told Tampa Bay Downs publicity. "Then I thought I was okay, but this is over. But she just kept coming and coming. She's a very good horse. She's a very good filly. I'm very excited for her because today was the trip for her to get beat, 100%. She came out with a run, and she put herself and myself in the winner's circle." Traveling over good turf, Destino d'Oro stopped the clock in 1:52.18 and paid $8 to win. Destino d'Oro's victory was a third in graded company overall for trainer Brad Cox and a third stakes win in a row, building off her career-best performance Jan. 24 in the Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational Stakes (G2T) at Gulfstream Park. The win streak follows a pair of lackluster efforts in Kentucky in the fall, which a two-month layoff mixed with a little Florida sunshine appears to have cured. "I loved her last spring and summer, and last fall, she wasn't doing bad, she just wasn't doing quite as good as she is now," Cox said on the America's Best Racing telecast. "No reason to stop on her, we kept her ticking over and she got on a roll in December at Gulfstream and she's been rolling. I wasn't sure about running here, but her last two works at Payson have been very good and I thought, you know, we'll just fill the calendar with this race and then maybe look at the Jenny Wiley at Keeneland." Bred in Kentucky by Hurstland Farm and James Greene Jr., Destino d'Oro was purchased Cary Bloodstock, as agent for Steve Landers Racing, for $185,000 from the CM Thoroughbreds consignment at the 2024 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. With a career record of 6-0-1 from nine starts, she has now earned $949,884. Destino d'Oro is out of the grade 1-placed Lion Heart mare Heart of Destiny. She gave sire Bolt d'Oro, who stands at Spendthrift Farm for $25,000 in 2026, his second graded triumph of the year.