Elate, Hofburg to skip Breeders' Cup
ELMONT, N.Y. – The multiple Grade 1 winner Elate will miss the Breeders’ Cup due to a splint-bone issue in her right foreleg that has been slow to heal, trainer Bill Mott said Saturday morning.
Elate, second to Abel Tasman in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 25, was being considered for either the Classic or the Distaff.
Also, Hofburg, fourth in the Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 22, will not be considered for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Mott said. He could be considered for the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill in late November.
Mott, who still plans to run Grade 1 Woodward winner Yoshida in the Classic, said both Elate and Hofburg are scheduled to run in 2019.
Elate, who at 3 won the Alabama and Beldame, got a late start to her 4-year-old campaign owing to a problem with the splint bone in her left foreleg. She made her seasonal debut in July in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap, a 1 1/4-mile race she won by 3 1/4 lengths.
In the Personal Ensign, she battled through the stretch with Abel Tasman, the two bumping hard in deep stretch. Abel Tasman won by a neck and withstood an objection and inquiry in a decision that still burns Mott.
“She’s walking every day; we’re trying to get everything cooled down,” Mott said. “She hasn’t been the same since she took that bump in the Personal Ensign.”
Hofburg, meanwhile, finished 10 1/4 lengths behind McKinzie in the Pennsylvania Derby after missing the Travers due to a temperature. Mott said he didn’t have any explanation for Hofburg’s performance other than to deduce that he didn’t like the Parx surface.
Mott said he does not want to go to the Classic off such a poor performance.
Mott mentioned the Clark on Nov. 23 as a possibility for Hofburg. The Pegasus World Cup in January could also be a target since Hofburg has a win and a runner-up finish to Audible in the Florida Derby over the Gulfstream main track.
“We’ll keep our options open,” Mott said. “If he needed a rest, we’d certainly give it to him right now, but it’s difficult to stop on one when they seem to be doing quite well.”
