Caledonia Road preps for Acorn

ELMONT, N.Y. – Had things gone according to plan, trainer Ralph Nicks would this weekend be putting the finishing touches on Caledonia Road’s preparation for a start in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.

But this is horse racing, and more often than not things don’t go according to plan. Thus, on Sunday, Nicks will be at Belmont Park watching Caledonia Road – the champion 2-year-old filly of 2017 – begin her 3-year-old campaign in a second-level allowance race at a mile.

This will be Caledonia Road’s first start since she won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar, a decisive victory that, coupled with a maiden victory and a runner-up in the Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont, earned her an Eclipse Award.

But it was just three weeks after the Breeders’ Cup that Caledonia Road had minor surgery to take a chip out of a front ankle. She returned to the work tab in February, but her training was compromised by a virus she contracted in March that basically bumped her off the Oaks trail.

“It’s a long year,” Nicks said. “It would have been nice to make the Oaks coming off the season she had, but to be around in the fall of the year you got to do what’s right for the horse.”

The early season objective for Caledonia Road is the Grade 1 Acorn on the June 9 Belmont Stakes undercard. That race, like Sunday’s allowance, is a one-turn mile.

Naturally, Caledonia Road is unlikely to run her best race Sunday, but her four rivals don’t look imposing.

“I think she’ll give us a good effort,” Nicks said. “She’s doing well. Her last two breezes have been very, very good. Would you say she’s 100 percent ready for her best? No. It’s a stepping-stone to the Acorn.”

Total Control, who has two wins and three seconds in her last five starts, and Crimson Frost, fourth in the Top Flight Invitational, are likely to battle for second behind Caledonia Road.