Effinex sticking around for winter

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Effinex, winner of Friday’s Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, returned to Belmont Park early Sunday morning and that’s likely where he will stay this winter, trainer Jimmy Jerkens said.

Though Jerkens sends most of his better horses to Palm Meadows in south Florida for the winter, Effinex will likely get a break before returning for a 5-year-old campaign. This year, he made his seasonal debut in a second-level allowance race over Aqueduct’s inner track before making his next seven starts in graded stakes.

“He’s more apt to do that than go down there,” Jerkens said.

Effinex had only three workouts leading up to a March 27 allowance race over the inner track, which was used as a prep for the Grade 3 Excelsior on April 25. In 2016, the $200,000 Excelsior is run on the Wood Memorial undercard on April 9. A possible tune-up for that race could be the $125,000 Stymie over the inner track March 13.

“He runs good fresh,” Jerkens said. “His first race this year was a terrific race. He’s in good shape. You keep running when you’re in good shape, but he shows he can fire off a couple of good works.”