Giant Oak, sent off as the 7-1 fifth choice, rallied furiously in deep stretch to win the grade I Donn Handicap by two impressive lengths.
Giant Oak was rated well off of the early pace set by Morning Line and Square Eddie, who dueled together through fractions of :23.36 and :46.73. They were being tracked by Rule and I Want Revenge. Mile favorite Fly Down was far off of the early pace, with just Ron the Greek behind him.
As the field turned for home I Want Revenge and Rule made their bids for the lead, taking on Morning Line and Square Eddie. Square Eddie began to drop out of the race after that, leaving the other three to decide the race amongst themselves.
However, Giant Oak had other ideas. Under strong right-handed whipping from jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, he rallied with tremendous strides to win the race in fairly easy fashion.
Morning Line finished second, a nose in front of Rule. I Want Revenge was a head behind them in fourth. Fly Down rallied mildly for fifth, but was very disappointing.
The final time was 1:48.23. It is apparent that Giant Oak is a force to be reckoned with in the handicap division this year. The five-year-old horse is trained by Chris Block and is owned by the Virginia H. Tarra Trust.
-Keelerman
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