Danzig Moon eyes Plate Trial

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – After running sixth in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 16, Danzig Moon will be pointed toward the $150,000 Plate Trial Stakes at Woodbine on June 14, trainer Mark Casse said.

Danzig Moon is expected to ship to Woodbine in the next week to begin training on Woodbine’s Polytrack, a surface that he has yet to race over. Casse said he’s concerned about whether Danzig Moon will handle the synthetic surface, and a start in the Plate Trial would allow him to get experience over the track before the $1 million Queen’s Plate on July 5.

Casse said Danzig Moon could skip the Queen’s Plate and point to the $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes if he doesn’t take to the Polytrack in the Plate Trial. The Prince of Wales Stakes, the second jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown, will be run over 1 3/16 miles on dirt at Fort Erie on July 28.

“In case he doesn’t handle the synthetic as well, I want to have the time to get him ready for the Prince of Wales,” Casse said. “There’s some concern [that Danzig Moon won’t handle Polytrack]. That being said, a big part of his early training was on synthetic, and he handled it well.”

Casse said Danzig Moon has come out of the Preakness well, considering the amount of kickback he took on the sloppy Pimlico surface.

“He got in a little trouble in the first turn,” he said. “They squeezed him off, and when he got hit with all of that mud, he kind of quit running. We scoped him afterwards, and the vet said he had half the racetrack in his throat. He coughed for three hours after the race. He’s fine. He’s just taking it easy right now. He’s had a pretty tough schedule.”