Amherst Street ready to put bleeding issue behind him in Leavitt Memorial

Amherst Street was the co-champion West Virginia-bred 2-year-old last year and is a perfect 6 for 6, with $225,000 in earnings. He is a true success story for owner Phyllis Susini and trainer Javier Contreras, who picked him out and bought him privately as a 2-year-old.

But there are sure to be some nervous moments when Amherst Street races in the $50,000 Robert G. Leavitt Memorial on Saturday night at Charles Town. Amherst Street bled outwardly through Lasix after winning his 3-year-old debut in the Coin Collector Stakes and was vanned back to his barn.

“It was a scare, and it is never a good thing when a horse bleeds through Lasix,” Contreras said. “But I don’t think it was that bad. He did not have a lot of blood in his lungs. It was more a vessel ruptured in his nasal cavity.”

Contreras put Amherst Street on antibiotics after the incident to head off any possibility of infection and has taken other precautions. Amherst Street had a bullet five-furlong workout last week, which pleased Contreras.

“I am feeding him a different diet and have changed his training,” he said. “He worked really nice for me, and I think it is all behind us.”

Contreras looked at a group of 2-year-olds who were for sale at the track when he purchased Amherst Street. He picked the right one.

“He had such a fluid way of going. The others were jumping and diving around, but none of it bothered him,” Contreras recalled. “He was smaller than the rest, and after I’d seen them all, I asked, ‘How much for the little one?’ ”

Amherst Street split the West Virginia-bred champion title last year with Giovanni Boldini, who is trained by Aidan O’Brien and finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Giovanni Boldini was voted West Virginia-bred Horse of the Year.

Amherst Street’s main rivals Saturday will be High N Dry, who is 2 for 2 to start his career, and Pin High, whose Beyer Speed Figures have climbed from 52 to 62 to 72 in his last three races.