Atropa skipping Rachel Alexandra to regroup

Kentucky Oaks hopeful Atropa won’t make the Rachel Alexandra Stakes on Feb. 14, nor will she start in any other near-term race.

Second in the Grade 2 Golden Rod to cap her 2-year-old campaign, Atropa checked in third, beaten a half-length, as the 1-2 favorite in the Silverbulletday last month at Fair Grounds.

“We’re going to regroup with her,” trainer Cherie DeVaux said. “She needs some time. She will go to Florida and get a work-up done.”

While Atropa heads to the sidelines, DeVaux on Jan. 30 breezed the one-two finishers in the Lecomte Stakes, Golden Tempo and Mesquite, their first works since the Lecomte. Golden Tempo debuted in December with a sprint maiden win, and successfully stretched out to 1 1/16 miles going last to first in the Lecomte. He worked in company with a maiden named Mojacar and remains on target for the Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 14.

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“He’s a horse who has just become a lot sharper, more into his training,” DeVaux said. “He should continue to improve.”

Mesquite, who had two races before the Lecomte, is headed in a different direction and will make his next start March 1 in the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn.

Another DeVaux-trained 3-year-old, Englishman, posted his first timed workout since mid-October, when he breezed three furlongs Jan. 29 at Fair Grounds. Englishman debuted Sept. 19 at Churchill and won a seven-furlong maiden by more than seven lengths, earning an elite 97 Beyer Speed Figure. He then breezed three times before DeVaux had to back off his training.

“That was just a starting-back point for him, but he came out of the work in great order, which was most important,” DeVaux said.

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