Bodemeister goes for Haskell while Creative Cause tries turf
Trainer Bob Baffert had enough of I’ll Have Another coming in right at the end spoiling his colt, Bodemeister’s chances of first winning the Kentucky Derby and then the Preakness Stakes, that he pulled his colt out of the Belmont Stakes, and so has Mike
Harrington, whose Creative Cause was behind Bodemeister in the Grade 1, $1 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on 19 May, 2012.
Zayat Stables owned Bodemeister could sure use a breather after setting the pace in the Kentucky Derby and carving speedy fractions to be in the top 5 Kentucky Derby’s pace setter, and doing the same in the Preakness Stakes.
Bob Baffert will be now aiming at the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on 29 July, 2012.
“He could use a breather,” Baffert said. The rampant colt, Bodemeister was coming into the Derby after a massive win over stable mate Secret Circle in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby, as he was declared favourite both in the Kentucky Derby and the
Preakness Stakes.
Meanwhile, trainer Mike Harrington is trying a completely different by wanting to try out Creative Cause on turf, and said that there is a fifty-fifty chance that the son of Giant’s Causeway will participate in the $150,000 Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park
on 4 July, 2012, a race that is strictly for 3-year-olds to be run over a distance of 1 1/8 miles.
If Creative Cause bypasses the Swaps Stakes, than he will have a chance at Del Mar, which offers two turf races for 3-year-olds in its summer meet.
Heinz Steinmann owned Creative Cause could be pointed toward the La Jolla Handicap on 11 August, 2012, and Del Mar Derby on 2 September, 2012.
“He’s happy and healthy,” Harrington said of the colt. “I’m going to give him a little time. I’ll back off him a little while. I’ll probably run him on the grass.
“I’ll have to determine if he is a turf horse. You never know until you try it.”
Meanwhile, the racing nation’s focus will be on what happens at Belmont Park, whether I’ll Have Another rise over the hype, or like other runners fade at the Big Sandy.
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