11/26/2011 2:43PM

Rapid Redux will skip Claiming Crown

By Marcus Hersh
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Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club
Rapid Redux's owner said the financial considerations of shipping to the Claiming Crown did not make sense.

NEW ORLEANS – Rapid Redux will not be shipped from Pennsylvania to New Orleans for the Dec. 3 Claiming Crown, owner Robert Cole said Saturday.

Rapid Redux was pre-entered in the $50,000 Iron Horse, and Cole said the expense of traveling for the race was too great to make the journey.

“It’s $13,000 to ship with plane transfer, and that made no sense at all,” said Cole. “If you run second, you lose $7,000.”

Rapid Redux, the modern American record holder with an ongoing 20-race winning streak, has won 18 races in 2011. Cole and trainer David Wells have set their sights on breaking Citations record of 19 wins in one year, but Cole said no specific spot had yet been chosen for Rapid Redux.

“There’s a half-dozen races around the area,” Cole said. “He’ll run once, maybe twice in December, but definitely once. It’s still wide open where we go.”