Destino d’Oro Noses Home in Troubled Finish to Hillsborough Stakes

Destino d’Oro overcame a near-disastrous trip to nose out Whiskey Decision and win the $200,000 Hillsborough Stakes (G2T) at Tampa Bay Downs on March 7, finishing the 1 1/8-mile turf in 1:52.18. Junior Alvarado rode the 4-year-old Bolt d’Oro filly for trainer Brad Cox and owner Steve Landers Racing in a result that left the margin measured in inches and the questions focused on a chaotic far turn.

Racing midpack through much of the 1 1/8-mile journey behind fractions of :23.98 and :49.90, 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, a sequence that forced a furious rally to the wire. However, the March 7 victory was anything but easy, with Destino d’Oro getting up by a nose after that troubled trip.

The photo finish produced HorseracingNation speed ratings of 110 for Destino d’Oro, 109 for second-place Whiskey Decision, and 108 for third-place Proctor Street. Final time on the official chart line was 1:52.18 for the nine-furlong turf test, and the top three separated by a head or less as the field closed hard down the lane.

Destino d’Oro extended a Florida winning streak to three with the Hillsborough score, a run that followed what the connections described as a pair of lackluster efforts in Kentucky last fall. The filly’s march through Gulfstream and Tampa Bay builds off a career-best performance Jan. 24 in the Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational at Gulfstream Park; records differ on the grade of that race, with one account listing it as a G2T and another labeling it G1T and showing Destino at 15-1 in Gulfstream’s winter feature.

Bred in Kentucky by Hurstland Farm and James Greene Jr., Destino d’Oro was purchased for $185,000 by Cary Bloodstock, as agent for Steve Landers Racing, from the CM Thoroughbreds consignment at the 2024 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. Out of the grade 1-placed Lion Heart mare Heart of Destiny and by Bolt d’Oro, who stands at Spendthrift Farm for $25,000 in 2026, Destino d’Oro gave her sire his second graded triumph of the year and improved her record to 6-0-1 from nine starts with career earnings of $949,884.

Destino d’Oro’s Hillsborough victory was a third in graded company overall for trainer Brad Cox and a third stakes win in a row, a sequence the connections credited in part to a two-month layoff and “a little Florida sunshine” that appeared to have cured her late-season form. The filly’s durability and ability to rally through traffic will shape where Cox and owner Steve Landers Racing point her next as the spring turf calendar tightens.