Caracortado won't run in Snow Chief

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Caracortado, the winner of the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita in February and one of the leading California-bred males this year, will miss Saturday's $200,000 Snow Chief Stakes at Hollywood Park, trainer Mike Machowsky said.

Machowsky, who owns Caracortado with Don Blahut, said last weekend that he hoped to use the Snow Chief as a prep for the Preakness Stakes on May 15, but said on Wednesday that immediate plans are now uncertain. He mentioned the Preakness or stakes at Monmouth Park, such as the $100,000 Spend a Buck on May 23 or the $200,000 Pegasus on June 19, as possible starts for Caracortado.

Caracortado finished a troubled fourth in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 3 and does not have sufficient earnings in graded stakes to gain a place in the Kentucky Derby on May 1.

"I'm still a little worried about the three weeks," Machowsky said, referring to the gap between the Santa Anita Derby and the Snow Chief Stakes.

"Right now, I'll breeze him on Saturday and wait and see what happens a week from Saturday. I'm not planning on the Derby. I might run in the Preakness and I've started looking at races at Monmouth. I was afraid if I ran him back and starched him it might take a month to jump-start him."

The absence of Caracortado leaves Alphie's Bet as the favorite in the Snow Chief, a 1 1/8-mile race for statebreds. Alphie's Bet won the Grade 3 Sham at Santa Anita on March 6, but was sixth of 10 in the Santa Anita Derby.

The Snow Chief will be the stakes debut of the unbeaten Self Made, who won a maiden race for sprinters in February and an allowance race for older statebreds over 1 1/16 miles on April 1.

Self Made is owned by breeders Tommy Town Thoroughbreds and trained by John Sadler, who will start Sidney's Candy and Line of David in the Kentucky Derby next week.

Sadler said Self Made may lack experience, but has the ability to compete in the Snow Chief.

"Those horses have a little seasoning on him, but he'll be a good horse," Sadler said. "We liked him a lot last year but he only got up to a half-mile breeze and he got a tibia issue. It was never really far enough along to know his true quality. We really like him a lot."