Wilkinson will bypass the Shoemaker Mile
After a herculean effort in the Grade 2 American Handicap, racegoers and fans were anxiously awaiting, Wilkinson’s next start in the Grade 1, $300,000 Shoemaker Mile at Betfair Hollywood Park on 30 June, 2012, but the 4-year-old Lemon Drop Kid colt has come down with a colic fever that will rule him out of the mile long event.
“At 6:30 (a.m.) he was in pain, got hot and wanted to lay down,” said Ral Ayers, assistant trainer to Jeff Mullins. “At first we thought we could handle it, but it got worse and he was on the van to West Coast Equine Hospital by 9 a.m. They had to cut him open and untangle the intestines. Luckily, no resection was needed.
“He’s doing OK now," Ayers added. "It usually takes two months to recover and if everything looks good, he can go back into training.”
Trained by Jeff Mullins for Gaillardia Racing LLC, Wilkinson was sent as the 44 to 1 long shot in the Grade 2 American Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park on 26 May, 2012, where he had the likes of Mr. Commons to contend with over the distance of 1 mile.
Switched to grass permanently on 22 August, 2011, Wilkinson on the turf footing was exceptional under a ride from jockey Marcelino Pedroza, who guided the colt to a shock victory over Mr. Commons to win the 1 mile event in 1 minute and 33.37 seconds.
A homebred of Gaillardia Racing LLC, Wilkinson had only won the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes Fair Grounds Race Course over at 1 mile and 40 yards. It was his only graded stakes victory before the American Handicap, and that too came on 22 January, 2011.
Wilkinson that day defeated Pants on Fire as a three-year-old to cover the 1 mile 40 yards distance in 1 minute and 40.97 seconds.
Out of Afternoon Deelites mare Tasha’s Delight, Wilkinson in between his 2 graded stakes victories, downed an allowance race at Churchill Downs at about 1 1/16 miles as a sophomore, and in the same season won another allowance/optional claimer over the same distance on turf at Saratoga.
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