Foot abscess will force Charge It to skip Pennsylvania Derby
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Charge It, who was forced to miss the Runhappy Travers Stakes on Aug. 27 due to a foot abscess, has not yet returned to the track and will be forced to miss the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 24, trainer Todd Pletcher said Wednesday.
Pletcher said Charge It, who won the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes by 23 lengths on July 2, has not trained in more than a week. He is being hand-walked around the shed row three times a day.
“We’ve got to get the foot healed up,” Pletcher said. “It’s kind of a Catch-22. If we don’t train, we’re not making the Pennsylvania Derby, if we do train, we risk having a reoccurrence. Right now, we’re just focused on getting it right. Once we get it right, then we’ll come up with a game plan.
“It could be something like the Kelso Mile, it could be the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, if he blows us away,” Pletcher said. “There’s a lot of options, but right now we got to get the foot right first. I think he’ll come to hand really quickly once we do.”
The Kelso, which in previous years had been run in late September as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, has been moved this year to Oct. 29 and could be used as a prep for the Grade 1 Cigar Mile, which is likely to be run on Dec. 3.
The Kelso will be run at Aqueduct - as will the Cigar Mile - as the entire Belmont fall meet will be run at Aqueduct starting Sept. 15.
Charge It, a lightly raced son of Tapit owned by Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm, won his maiden in his second start and then finished second in the Florida Derby in his third.
Charge It finished 17th in the Kentucky but was found to have displaced his soft palate. He underwent a minor throat procedure to correct it and then ran a monster race in the Dwyer, a race for which he earned a 111 Beyer Speed Figure.