The rapidly improving Dorado is finally living up to expectations, trainer Javier Contreras said following his second straight allowance win Jan. 16.

Still too early to compare the four-year-old Golden Years colt to any of Contreras’ top previous trainees, including Late Night Pow Wow, Hidden Canyon and Amherst Street. But two straight wins – and seven consecutive one-two finishes – suggests that Dorado may finally be set to redeem the promise he showed early on.

Dorado graduated at first asking in a one-turn maiden special weight dash for West Virginia-bred two-year-olds with regular pilot Wesley Ho in the irons on September 1, 2023 by getting the 4 1/2 furlongs in 53.65 to prevail by a length as the only first-timer in the field.

But it would be several months before Dorado would find the winners’ circle again. He subsequently finished ninth in the Henry Mercer Memorial Stakes in which King Kontie and Jubawithatwist dead-heated for the victory but rebounded to finish a solid second in an allowance event on December 14. But his first three starts at age three produced little success as Dorado finished eighth, fourth and fifth.

“He really showed me a lot of ability when I first started training him as a two-year-old,” said Contreras, now less than 70 wins shy of reaching the 1,000-win milestone in his career. “I was really high on him after that first start. But he was really fast and he started to develop some shin problems.”

Since opening his sophomore season with a trio of modest performances, Dorado has turned the corner. In fact, over the last nine months, comprising seven starts, Dorado has never been worse than second against allowance foes at Charles Town.

In the midst of that streak, following a first and three seconds, Contreras gave his charge several months off. But the break only seems to have helped, as he returned with a second and now two consecutive wins.

“He got a little time off and since then he’s really matured and filled out and just a lot more muscular now,” Contreras said. “He still has a couple of allowance conditions ahead of him, the non-winners of two twice and non-winners of three twice and then perhaps I’d like to try him in the [$75,000 Confucius Say] Stakes in the spring.”

Following a trio of subpar efforts last winter, Dorado displayed his normal vigor on March 29 when he finished second in an allowance race then came right back to narrowly prevail in an April 20 allowance that was somewhat of a bittersweet score for Contreras. He had also saddled the speedy Pork Chop Pete for that event and watched as that sophomore finished a nondescript fifth as the 2-5 favorite while forced to race three-wide on both turn before fading in the lane.

Dorado then finished second in each of his next three outings against allowance foes on May 9, May 24 and November 7 before ending his sophomore campaign with a sharp score in a one-turn allowance dash here on December 13 while getting the 4 1/2 furlongs in 52.47 as an overlooked 9-2 shot.

Then in his most recent start, Dorado kicked off his current campaign with a solid score as the tepid 2-1 favorite in a two-turn allowance with Ho aboard while getting the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:20.80.

“He’s doing really good right now,” Contreras said. “He’s been training super, and he no longer has any issues with his shins. I would like to get him a couple of more starts before I try him in the stakes race. He still has a couple of conditions that he fits, so if he does well in those races then I’ll take a shot with him in the stakes.”

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