Divisidero to sit out until wintertime

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The exciting Divisidero, whose powerful late run has made him one of the top 3-year-old turf horses in North America, won’t be entered Wednesday in the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes and won’t see racing action again until this winter at the earliest, according to trainer Buff Bradley.

Divisidero was among the horses pre-entered Saturday in the Secretariat but has not posted a timed workout since July 15, and instead of racing this weekend, he will head to Silver Springs Farm near Paris, Ky., where owner Tom Keithley’s Gunpowder Farms boards its stock.

“He’s going to get a couple months off,” Bradlery said Monday. “About two weeks ago, he got a lung infection, and he’s just not 100 percent. This was probably going to be his last 3-year-old race before he had to face older horses, and we decided this would be a good time to go ahead and give him a little break. We’d love to be running this weekend, but there are going to be a lot of races for this horse.”

Plans call for Divisidero to be turned out for 60 days before rejoining Bradley’s stable sometime in October, and Divisidero seems unlikely to be ready to race again until sometime this winter. He stabled with Bradley in Florida this past winter, winning his career debut at Gulfstream Park and finishing third there in the Palm Beach Stakes.

Divisidero, a son of Kitten’s Joy, went on to win the Grade 2 American Turf on May 2 at Churchill Downs, beating the good colt A Lot, and then captured the $200,000 Pennine Ridge at Belmont. He was 5-2 in the $1.25 million Belmont Derby on July 4, but that race was run at a walking pace, compromising Divisidero’s finish, and the issues that have led to his break from racing might already have begun to creep into his form.

Besides Divisidero, another Secretariat pre-entrant, World Approval, won’t start in the race on Saturday’s Arlington Million card.

World Approval, who edged Secretariat candidate Crittenden in the American Derby last month at Arlington, instead raced last week at Saratoga in the Hall of Fame Stakes, finishing fourth.

But even lacking Divisidero and World Approval, the Secretariat is coming up a solid nine-horse race headed by Belmont Derby winner Force the Pass. A strong European contingent also is expected to start, including Highland Reel, second in the French Derby this year; War Dispatch, third in the French Derby; and Italian Derby winner Goldstream. The other pre-entrants are Closing Bell, Dekabrist, Granny’s Kitten, and Money Multiplier.

Rabbit in Arlington Million

With pre-entrant Gabriel Charles out of the Million because of colic, there are 13 pre-entered horses left in the signature race of the Arlington season, though one of them, The Pizza Man, also was pre-entered in the American St. Leger, a race he won last year and in which he would be a much shorter price than if his connections instead go in the Million.

Slumber and Big Blue Kitten head the North American pre-entrants in the race, and Big Blue Kitten will be aided for the second time in a row by a pacemaker, a horse named Shining Copper. Owner Ken Ramsey twice this year used a rabbit for his mare Stephanie’s Kitten, but on both occasions the rabbit – Kitten’s Queen – actually finished in front of Stephanie’s Kitten.

Shining Copper also held on much longer than the typical pacemaker when he finished a close fourth at odds of 129-1 in the United Nations Stakes, but Ramsey’s strategy worked there, with Big Blue Kitten a rallying 1 1/2-length winner over Slumber.