East Hall to bypass Discovery Handicap
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
East Hall, the winner of the Grade 2 Indiana Derby in his last start, will not be coming to New York as planned for Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Discovery Handicap at Aqueduct, trainer Bill Kaplan said Monday.
Kaplan, based in south Florida, was planning to bring both East Hall and the 2-year-old filly Naval Command, the latter being slated for Sunday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Nashua Stakes. But Kaplan said Naval Command came out of a work Sunday at Gulfstream Park with an issue, and his owner didn’t want to ship just one horse.
“The owner decided it didn’t work economically to fly up one horse, so we decided to stay here,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan now plans to run East Hall in the $75,000 Sunshine Millions Classic Preview at Gulfstream Park West on Nov. 8.
As of Monday, the field for the Discovery was scheduled to include Bay of Plenty, Noble Moon, Protonico, and Three Alarm Fire.
On Sunday at Aqueduct, Bay of Plenty worked four furlongs in 48.55 seconds over the Belmont main track, while Three Alarm Fire covered the same distance in 51.25. On the training track, Protonico worked five furlongs in 1:02.48.
The field for the Discovery will be drawn Wednesday.