Colonel Liam out of Bowling Green, will get a vacation

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Colonel Liam, a winner of two Grade 1 turf stakes this year, will be getting a break and will most likely miss the major fall races in the turf division, trainer Todd Pletcher said Wednesday.

Pletcher had been pointing Colonel Liam to Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green Stakes at Saratoga. But Pletcher said he wasn’t pleased with how the 4-year-old colt galloped Tuesday morning and planned to send the horse to Kentucky for an evaluation.

“I think the most likely scenario is that he’ll have a similar schedule to last year,” Pletcher said. “He’ll have a little break and then get one prep before the Pegasus.”

Last year, Colonel Liam got a break following a fourth-place finish, beaten less than a length, in the Saratoga Derby in mid-August. He returned to win the Tropical Park Derby in December at Gulfstream Park before winning the Grade 1, $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf on Jan. 23.

After the Pegasus, Colonel Liam won the Grade 2 Muniz Memorial at Fair Grounds before dead-heating with Domestic Spending for win in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.

Most recently, Colonel Liam finished eighth in the Grade 1 Manhattan at Belmont Park on June 5.

The Fort Lauderdale, a 1 1/8-mile race run at Gulfstream in mid-December, serves as the prep for the Pegasus Turf.

Colonel Liam, a son of Liam’s Map, was a $1.2 million 2-year-old in-training purchase in 2019 by Robert and Lawana Low.