El Deal on his way back

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – El Deal, undefeated in four starts but unraced since last May 1, returned to the work tab over the weekend, breezing three furlongs in 38 seconds over the Belmont training track.

Trainer Andrew Lakeman said that if El Deal progresses the right way over the next six weeks, he could return in the Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool over Aqueduct’s inner track on March 12.

“I don’t know if he would be ready by then, but I would love to go in there,” Lakeman said. “I think it would be a really good comeback race. He’d get in light on the weights, I would think.”

El Deal, a son of Munnings, won for maiden $30,000 claiming in November 2014, then won a starter allowance over the inner track last February. After winning an open allowance at Parx in March, he won the Gold Fever Stakes on May 1.

He was in training toward the Woody Stephens Stakes but was stopped on due to bone remodeling, according to Lakeman.

“He needed time off to let his ankles remodel,” Lakeman said.