by Dean A. Hoffman

Dean Hoffman

Columbus, OH — There are remarkable similarities in their careers.

Both horses won the Hambletonian. Through the Hambletonian, one horse has raced 15 times while the other had raced 14 times.

For both horses, their starts through the Hambo were made at only three tracks. Both raced twice at Lexington and twice at Woodbine as 2-year-olds. One raced six times at the Meadowlands in his first season and five times as a 3-year-old. The other raced there five times both seasons.

One horse has never lost a race. The other horse lost only the first start of his life.

The horses, of course, are Deweycheatumnhowe and Donato Hanover, and any comparison is valid only through the same stage of their career.

We know what happened to Donato Hanover after the Hambletonian last year. He went to Du Quoin for a smashing victory in the World Trotting Derby, then to Lexington for three wins in 1:52 or faster, including a world record 1:50.1 mile in the second heat of the Kentucky Futurity.

After a long layoff, Donato dropped his elimination heat for the Breeders Crown and then drew post nine in the final and finished third.

What will happen to Dewey after his Hambo win? Will he go on to faster miles and more wins? Or will he fall victim to an upset or two along the way.

Dewey’s done nothing wrong. He came into the Hambletonian as the only unbeaten horse in the history of the race and came out of the Hambletonian still unbeaten. That, of course, could change in the coming months.

Dewey’s 1:52 mile in the Hambo was his fastest ever. Donato’s 1:53.1 Hambo elim was his fastest ever to that point.

As a 2-year-old Dewey was 10-for-10 while Donato was eight for nine. Dewey’s juvenile record was 1:54.2 while Donato’s was 1:55. Dewey trotted three miles faster than 1:57 as a 2-year-old while Donato trotted five miles faster than 1:57.

As a 3-year-old, all of Dewey’s five wins have been faster than 1:54 while three of Donato’s first five wins were faster than 1:54.

Both trotters are by popular stallions. Donato got a warm welcome from breeders and so will Dewey. Which trotter would you rather own? Which would you rather breed to?

One noticeable difference that I’m sure someone will point out is that Dewey wears hobbles while Donato trotted free-legged. That alone will sway some people toward Donato, but if those people think that hobbled trotters are a passing fad, they have a big disappointment ahead. Four hobbled trotters in the Hambo and they finished 1-2-3-4. Get over it.

Neither Dewey nor Donato ever raced on a track smaller than a seven-eighths-mile. Both deliberately bypassed a shot at the Triple Crown by skipping the Yonkers Trot, following a pattern of many other horses over the years. The Triple Crown is robbed of any real meaning when so often the best horses skip one of the races.

A more valid comparison of Dewey and Donato must wait until the end of the 2008 season. It will indeed be interesting to see how Dewey’s campaign unfolds and to see if he can match Donato’s feat of winning the World Trotting Derby, Canadian Trotting Classic, Kentucky Futurity, and then succeed where Donato failed in the Breeders Crown.