Churchill: Ride On Curlin taking it easy

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ride On Curlin, runner-up in the 2014 Preakness, is on another break after coming out of his last start “a little banged up,” according to trainer Billy Gowan.

Ride On Curlin finished last of nine, beaten 22 lengths, in the Grade 2 Alysheba on the May 1 Kentucky Oaks program.

“He’s just got some wear and tear,” said Gowan. “We’re giving him 60 days on the farm and will evaluate him from there.”

Ride On Curlin, an earner of $780,287 for owner Dan Dougherty, ran in all three Triple Crown races last year but did not race for seven months after failing to finish in the Belmont Stakes. The 4-year-old Curlin colt won his seasonal debut, a six-furlong allowance at Oaklawn Park, but his form tailed off afterward, with his poor Alysheba performance being preceded by a second in the Feb. 14 Essex and a sixth in the March 14 Razorback, both at Oaklawn.

Mr. Z getting R and R

Mr. Z, fifth in the Preakness, is getting a break of at least 30 days, trainer D. Wayne Lukas told Churchill publicity staff this week. “He caught a lot of mud and everything in those blinkers,” Lukas said. “That was not a true indication on how he runs.”

Mr. Z briefly was the subject of an uproar during Preakness week at Pimlico when the colt was sold by his namesake, Ahmed Zayat of Zayat Stables, for an undisclosed sum to the Calumet Farm of Brad Kelley. Zayat Stables owns Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner American Pharoah.