El Kabeir moves into Mott's barn

El Kabeir, a three-time graded stakes winner and earner of more than $900,000, has been transferred to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and is now based at the Payson Park training center in Indiantown, Fla.

On Tuesday, El Kabeir breezed three furlongs in 35.80 seconds over the dirt at Payson. It was his second breeze for Mott.

El Kabeir won the Grade 3 Jerome and Grade 3 Gotham in 2015 when in the barn of John Terranova. El Kabeir has not run since finishing last behind Frosted in the Grade 1 Whitney last August at Saratoga. Justin Zayat, the racing manager for his family’s Zayat Stables, said El Kabeir was moved to Mott shortly thereafter and was later diagnosed with bone bruising. He was given 60 days off before resuming training.

Zayat said the trainer change was “just to change things up, nothing against John. Bill does very good bringing older horses back.”

Zayat said he is not sure where, or even on what surface, El Kabeir will return. El Kabeir raced once on turf, a seventh-place finish in the Grade 2 Dixie on Preakness Day last May at Pimlico.

“It was a boggy turf, hard to judge him off that,” Zayat said. “We’ll have Bill work him on turf and get his opinion.”

King Kranz going to Laurel for General George

Meanwhile, King Kranz, a Zayat horse who remains with Terranova, will be point to the Grade 3, $250,000 General George on Feb. 18 at Laurel.

King Kranz, who won the Lost in the Fog and Gold Fever stakes as a 3-year-old, has not run since finishing sixth in the Grade 2 Amsterdam at Saratoga on July 30.

On Jan. 22, King Kranz worked five furlongs in 1:00.01 out of the gate over the Belmont Park training track. Terranova said King Kranz will likely have another gate work before the General George.

“He seemed to get a lot out of it,” Terranova said of the gate move. “He’s continuing to move forward each week, every indication is he’s right on target.”