Damon’s Mound rolls in the Sunshine Sprint, Coglianese Photo
Gulfstream Park Press
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Cliff and Michele Love’s multiple graded-stakes winning homebred Damon’s Mound asserted his class when challenged at the top of the stretch and drew off to a popular front-running 2 ½-length triumph in Saturday’s $75,000 Sunshine Sprint at Gulfstream Park.
The 23rd running of the six-furlong Sunshine Sprint for Florida-breds 4 and older on the main track shared top billing with the $75,000 Sunshine Turf for older state-breds won by Grade 1-placed Neoequos in his grass debut.
Ridden by Junior Alvarado for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, Damon’s Mound ($xxx) covered a fast main track in 1:09.19 to become the first back-to-back winner of the Sunshine Sprint, inaugurated in 2003, and the second to win it twice following X Y Jet in 2014 and 2016.
“Horses like him don’t come around like this that often,” Alvarado said. “He’s a very classy horse, a very neat horse, and he does everything right. I think most of the time, he shows up.”
Damon’s Mound only had his morning line favoritism deepend with the early scratch of multiple stakes-winning mare Ms. Bucchero, going off the 1-5 top choice in a field of six. He broke alertly from the rail and immediately established a forward position, leading through splits of 22.89 and 45.76 seconds for the half-mile tracked to his outside by Gulfstream’s 2024 Juvenile Sprint winner Big Paradise.
“I wasn’t mad that the filly got scratched because the less competition, the better sometimes,” Alvarado said. “He was good today. He broke out of there very sharp, put himself on the lead and like Mr. Mott always says, ‘Don’t take away what comes easy.’ He was doing it pretty nicely, so I just stayed with it. When I asked for his best, he was there for me. He ran pretty nice today.”
Big Paradise and jockey Edgar Perez moved up alongside Damon’s Mound exiting the far turn but Alvarado gave the 6-year-old bay son of Girvin his cue once straightened for home and he responded by steadily edging clear. Big Paradise held second, followed by Nothingbutsubtle, Keep On Moving, Neshume and Raging Fury.
Damon’s Mound’s only two wins against Florida-bred competition have been wins in the Sunshine Sprint. He owns six stakes wins including the 2022 Saratoga Special (G2), 2023 Gallant Bob (G2) and 2025 Bold Ruler (G3), the latter two with Alvarado aboard, and pushed his career bankroll over $900,000 from 18 starts.
“I was pretty happy with what was underneath me. Even at the three-eighths pole when he got a little pressure on the outside, he never hesitated,” Alvarado said. “He was waiting for my call and right when we turned for home, he took off again.”
