A Look Back at Deputy Minister Winning 1983 Donn

In conjunction with Tom Hall's Throwback Thursday features in BloodHorse Daily, BloodHorse.com each Thursday will present corresponding race stories from the pages of the magazine. This week is a recap of the 1983 Donn Handicap (G2) at Gulfstream Park won by Deputy Minister. Written by Art Grace with the headline, "A Donn, and a Scare for the Deputy," the story appeared in the Feb. 19, 1983 issue.



Reynaldo Nobles was outwardly calm, but his stomach was churning as he stood outside Deputy Minister's Hialeah stall at 9:15 the morning after the Donn Handicap (gr. II). Deputy Minister had converted most of the skeptics—and there were a lot of them—with a strong performance as he rallied, wide, to win the 1 1/8-mile Donn by 1 1/4 lengths over Key Count, with Rivalero a distant third. It was the first time Deputy Minister had gone that far.

When Nobles checked him early Sunday morning, the colt could not put any pressure on his left front foot. When the shoe was removed, Nobles thought he saw a speck of dried blood and assumed a nail had pricked the hoof when Deputy Minister was shod four days earlier.

Deputy Minister was given a tetanus shot and Butazolidin.

"We'll have X rays taken in a couple hours," Nobles said, "after everything calms down. I don't think anything's broken. If it's something I can handle in two or three days, he still might make the (Gulfstream Park) Handicap (gr. I, Feb. 26), but I won't make any quick decisions with this kind of horse.

"He's feeling better now," Nobles added.

Deputy Minister, in fact, started circling his stall. He was not putting the foot down normally, but he was walking on it. Nobles spoke to him: "I know it hurts, we're going to do something about it right now."

Nobles proceeded to tub the foot in hot water, and he later put on a heavy poultice.

When Nobles was asked for his home phone number so he could be called to find out about the X-ray results, he had a hard time remembering it.

"I'm so nervous I can't think straight," he said. "I get this horse just where I want him, and now this. A good horse will give you problems because they try so hard all the time. I'll be glad when I get the X rays...then I'll know one way or the other."

At three o'clock the results were in, and Nobles was greatly relieved.

"They X-rayed everything and the pictures all came back negative," he said. "It wasn't a nail...he's just got a bruise. He still might make the Gulfstream Handicap, but I'm going to be very careful. There are a lot more big ones down the road.

"This takes a lot of pressure off my back."

The pressure was understandable. First Jersey Securities president Robert Brennan, for whom Nobles trains, bought a half-interest in Deputy Minister after the Canadian-bred son of Vice Regent had won the Eclipse Award at 2 in 1981.

A sesamoid injury suffered at this time a year ago limited Deputy Minister to four starts last year, and he won only an allowance race, at Woodbine. It appeared to be a bad investment, and then, last month, Brennan bought the other half-interest in Deputy Minister and Nobles became the trainer.

In his first start this year, Deputy Minister was an impressive winner, coming from far back to win the seven-furlong Sprint Championship Handicap at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 29. The big test, however, came at the longer distance of the Donn, and Deputy Minister passed the exam with an A-plus.

Carrying top weight of 122 pounds in a field of 16, Deputy Minister was seventh down the backside as Northrop set the pace followed by Key Count. On the far turn, Eminency rushed up to get the lead. Key Count, which had dropped back to fourth rallied on the outside, while Deputy Minister started his move on the extreme outside.

Leaving the five-sixteenths pole, it was Key Count and Deputy Minister. The latter took a length lead turning for home, but Key Count (under 113 pounds) came back on the rail and drew even. They ran head-and-head past the eighth pole.

Coming to the sixteenth pole, Deputy Minister started to draw away and won decisively. Rivalero, 12th turning down the backside, finished well but never was a threat. Ridden by Don MacBeth, Deputy Minister was timed in 1:48 3/5.

Deputy Minister had been redeemed. The next morning Angel Penna Jr., who will run Christmas Past in the Gulfstream Park Handicap (she ran a powerful race the day before the Donn, winning by five lengths in her first start in four months), commented that he had not even seen the race, but that he had been told Deputy Minister had run a big race. Then Angel Penna Sr. walked up; he had finished seventh in the Donn with Baltimore Canyon.

"Deputy Minister was impressive," he told his son. "A good horse now."

Follow up: Deputy Minister missed nearly five months of racing after the Donn, returning July 17, 1983 to win the Tom Fool Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park.