On Aug. 8 at Ellis Park, JAL Racing’s Doncho, trained by Michelle Lovell, set a world record for the fastest 5½-furlong turf sprint, going :59.75 wire to wire against allowance company. Two days later, at the same distance and track, Baron Racing Stables’ Mister Mmmmm stopped the clock in :59.94 to win an allowance for trainer Joe Sharp. The two speedsters meet Saturday at Colonial Downs in the $150,000 Da Hoss Stakes, one of six turf stakes on Old Dominion Derby Day.

“[Mister Mmmmm] has got a lot of speed,” Lovell said. “He ran a couple days later, and he went faster earlier (than Doncho), but then backed up. He was just a tick off our world record. We did it better, in terms of finishing up strong, which is something we’ve been working on with him.”

Doncho ran the first quarter in :21.61, the second in :21.75, and finished the last furlong and a half in :16.39. Mister Mmmmm went :20.75, then :21.44, and came home in :17.75.

“The last sixteenth, Doncho went under six seconds,” Lovell said. “I’m just glad he’s come back and found life on the turf because I thought he could do well there.”

Doncho is 9-2 on the morning line, while Mister Mmmmm is 5-1. Hard-hitting Witty, winner of the Andy Guest earlier in the meet, is 2-1, while Alogon is 5-2 and dropping out of graded company.

A lightly raced 4-year-old, Doncho’s success previously came on dirt. After breaking his maiden at Fair Grounds late in his 2-year-old season, he followed with an allowance win, a fourth in the Lafayette at Keeneland, and a victory in the 2024 Gold Fever Stakes at Belmont. Returning at 4, Lovell switched him to turf at Keeneland, where he ran ninth.

“He lost a shoe in the first race back,” Lovell said. “So it wasn’t great. But Jaime (Torres) said he handled the turf well, handled the going at Keeneland.”

Torres, aboard for two of Doncho’s four wins, will ride from post 4.

Mister Mmmmm, just shy of $500,000 in earnings, owns eight wins—seven sprinting on turf. With eight mounts Saturday, including all six stakes, Kendrick Carmouche takes the call from post 6.

“It will be a good test for (Doncho),” said Lovell, who won the 2021 Da Hoss with Just Might. “We’ll see if he’s gritty when he goes eyeball to eyeball (with Mister Mmmmm).”