Colonel Liam training for his post-Dubai season

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Yes, that striking gray horse you saw galloping around the Churchill Downs dirt oval this week was turf star Colonel Liam.

A year ago, Colonel Liam, making a very fine morning impression, was preparing to run in the Grade 1 Turf Classic, where he wound up finishing in a dead heat for the win with Domestic Spending. Now, Colonel Liam is just getting going again after traveling to Dubai, where he was ninth March 26 in the $5 million Dubai Turf. In his first start this year and return from a layoff of nearly eight months, Colonel Liam won the Pegasus World Cup Turf.

:: Want to start playing with a $510 bankroll and have access to free Formulator? Learn more

Trainer Todd Pletcher said there is no set race target for Colonel Liam, but the connections of the Pletcher-trained Life Is Good have plotted a summer campaign.

Life Is Good also was in Dubai, where he finished a fading fourth trying 1 1/4 miles for the first time as the heavy favorite in the Dubai World Cup. Life Is Good, Pletcher said, is galloping steadily over the training track at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., and is due to arrive in his barn at Belmont Park around May 15. Life Is Good, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus World Cup in his two races before the Dubai Trip, could make a comeback start July 2 at Belmont in the $250,000 John Nerud Stakes over seven furlongs. That race, Pletcher said, could lead into the $1 million Whitney Stakes on Aug. 6.