Colloquial out of training, will miss Saratoga meet
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The much anticipated rematch between Mentee and Colloquial, that many had hoped would take place as soon as Saturday’s Grade 3 Sanford Stakes, will have to wait for a while.
Trainer George Weaver said earlier this week that he’s had to take Colloquial out of training for some minor issues, with the hope of having him back to the track by the end of August.
Mentee defeated Colloquial by a rapidly diminishing nose when the pair launched their careers on June 15 at Aqueduct in a race that saw the winner set a five-furlong course record. Both youngsters received 88 Beyer Speed Figures for their performances, with Colloquial much the best of the duo on the gallop-out.
“He’s a very nice horse, but we needed to back off him,” Weaver said. “He came up with a couple of small things we discovered in the vetting process. He’ll be fine, but likely won’t be back until late August. He’s definitely not going to make the meet. Obviously, it’s a shame because he ran so well in his first start.”
The news wasn’t all bad in the Weaver barn recently. The Weaver-trained Outlaw Kid upset last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint runner-up Big Invasion winning a high-priced allowance/optional-claiming race in record-setting fashion July 4 at Aqueduct. Outlaw Kid was running back on short rest, off a second-place finish as an odds-on favorite against lesser allowance opposition at Laurel just six days earlier.
“The race at Laurel was just a merry-go-round and nobody was going to catch the winner that day,” Weaver recalled. “They brought the race at Aqueduct back, he’d been doing pretty well, I was able to get Flavien [Prat], so I just decided to put him right back in and see what he can do. He got a nice trip, and I’m very proud of the horse for what he was able to accomplish.”
Weaver said he would likely nominate Outlaw Kid for the Grade 2 Troy here Aug. 3 but also is considering sending him back to Woodbine to defend his title in the five-furlong Vice Regent Stakes, a race restricted to Ontario-breds that he won as the 4-5 favorite last August.
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