Asmussen eyeing Aristides for Skelly; jockey Cannon out with injury
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Skelly looked like he was back to the best version of himself earlier this month. Hall of Fame might have more of himself still to give. And Magnitude got himself back in the breeze column last week.
All three dirt horses – a sprinter, a router, and a 3-year-old – are based at Churchill with trainer Steve Asmussen, and the first two are aimed at stakes races there.
Skelly, who earned a career-best 110 Beyer Speed Figure winning the May 2 Lake Hamilton at Oaklawn Park by 10 1/2 lengths, is bound for the $275,000 Aristides on May 31. Hall of Fame raced the same day at Churchill, finishing a creditable third in the Alysheba, and is scheduled to race on the same card as Skelly in the Blame Stakes. Asmussen thinks, or at least hopes, lightly raced Hall of Fame still can hit a higher level.
Skelly finished 10th last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, the end of a long year that saw him run a hard February race in Saudi Arabia.
“We never were where we wanted to be with him again after Saudi,” said Asmussen, who again has the BC Sprint at Del Mar as a goal.
Magnitude won the Feb. 18 Risen Star at Fair Grounds by almost 10 lengths with a 108 Beyer but came out of the race with a chipped ankle that required surgical repair. On May 15, he had the easiest of half-mile works, his first breeze back at the track, going 53.80.
◗ Rebel Red and Tapit Shoes walked off the Churchill track after a wreck in the Louisville Stakes on Saturday night, and jockey Rafael Bejarano on Tapit Shoes escaped injury. But Declan Cannon, who rode Rebel Red, wasn’t so fortunate. Cannon said Sunday that he'll be out of action roughly six weeks after fracturing two vertebrae and another bone in his neck. Tapit Shoes fell over Rebel Red, who went down after clipping heels with Missed the Cut, who had to be taken up going into the last of the Louisville’s three turns when pacesetting Idratherbeblessed backed up abruptly and lurched off the rail. Idratherbeblessed was found to have bled, according to the official chart.
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