Donn Handicap
The Donn Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in late January/early February at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. The race is named after the Donn family, who for many years owned and operated the racetrack.
The Donn Handicap is a Grade I race open to horses four years old and up. It is raced on dirt over a distance of one and one-eighth miles and currently offers a $500,000 purse. Recently the race has become the premier prep race in North America for the Dubai World Cup. Three horses have won the race twice. Inaugurated at a distance of a mile and a half, the only horse to ever win the race twice at that distance was One-Eyed-King who did it back-to-back in 1959 and 1960. At its present distance of one and one-eighth miles, Pistols and Roses won it back-to-back in 1993 and 1994 as did the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Cigar for the two ensuing years.
A total of three horses that have won the Donn Handicap went on to be named either the Eclipse Award for American Horse of the Year or American Champion Older Male Horse that year: Saint Liam, Skip Away and Cigar. In addition, reigning Horse of the Year Invasor won the Donn in 2007 prior to taking the Dubai World Cup.