Dream Empress to get another shot

Dream Empress, the winner of the Grade 1 Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland in 2008, will need a sharp performance in her next start to continue her racing career.

After the filly finished third, beaten 2 1/4 lengths in Monday's third race, assistant trainer Jordan Blair said Dream Empress will start in another allowance race in January. The result of that race will determine whether she is sent to be bred or races as a 4-year-old.

"We'll make a career decision," Blair said. "We want to see if she wants to be a racehorse."

Owned by Livin the Dream Racing and trained by Kenneth McPeek, Dream Empress has won 2 of 8 starts and $763,154. Following the 2008 Alcibiades Stakes, she was second on this track to champion Stardom Bound in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Dream Empress made two starts last spring, finishing seventh in stakes at Gulfstream Park and Keeneland. Winless in four starts since the Alcibiades Stakes, she is not considered a candidate for the El Encino Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 17, Blair said.