Godolphin homebred Maxfield (Street Sense), among the three standouts for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile off of the strength of his head-turning romp in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity Oct. 5, will be forced to scratch from Friday's championship event after it was discovered that we off in his right front. The news was first reported by Daily Racing Form.
“Terrible timing, but it was really a pretty easy call,” Godolphin USA president Jimmy Bell said. “[Trainer] Brendan [Walsh] said when he came out this morning and washed off the poultice that he said it was just a little off. You don't know what they've done in the stall. So we took him for a jog around there and for whatever reason he wasn't himself. He's an easy horse to read and we're proactive. It's just terrible timing… It could be something as simple as a bruise in his foot. But what we do know is he's not running.”
A late-running debut winner going a mile at Churchill Sept. 14, the homebred provided Walsh with his first Grade I win at Keeneland and was the 3-1 third choice on the morning line for the Juvenile.
“We're a little numb, but he's done so much as a 2-year-old,” Bell added. “We have a great horse on our hands and we look very much forward to next year. He's a special horse. Again, just terrible timing. We'll see if we can figure out just exactly what it is.”
Landeskog to Miss Sprint…
ERJ Racing LLC, John Fuller, Dave Kennedy and Madaket Stables LLC Landeskog (Munnings), slated to contest Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, will scratch from the six-furlong contest, Doug O'Neill told TDN Tuesday. O'Neill wasn't satisfied with the way the colt exited his latest work (four furlongs in :47.00) at Santa Anita Oct. 26.
“He's 90% perfect, and just not 100%,” said O'Neill. “It's a bummer to miss this race, but we're listening to him and the timing isn't right. We're looking forward to having a great 2020 with him.”
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