Elate to miss Beldame Stakes due to leg inflammation

ELMONT, N.Y. – The multiple Grade 1 stakes winner Elate will miss the Grade 1, $400,000 Beldame at Belmont Park on Oct. 6 due to inflammation in and around the splint bone in her right foreleg, trainer Bill Mott said Wednesday.

Mott said he has not ruled out training Elate up to the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.

“The best-case scenario is hope to be back going by the first of October,” Mott said. “If that’s the case, then she will have missed a couple of weeks of training. We’ll see what happens.”

Mott said this is not an injury to the splint bone itself. In the winter, Elate had an injured splint bone in her left foreleg that delayed her return to the races until July.

“Is it associated with the splint bone? Yes,” Mott said. “If you have a splint bone problem, you would have a broken bone. That is not the case.”

Mott was hoping to use the Beldame as a stepping-stone to either the Breeders’ Cup Distaff or Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.

Elate, 4, has run just twice this year, winning the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap in July and finishing second, beaten a neck by Abel Tasman, in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign.

As a 3-year-old, Elate won the Grade 1 Alabama and Grade 1 Beldame before finishing her season with a fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Elate, a daughter of Blame, is owned and was bred by Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm.