Gift List targets Queen Elizabeth II after bout with pneumonia

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Brian Lynch had hoped to run Gift List, winner of the Grade 2 Edgewood Stakes at Churchill Downs in spring, in Sunday’s Saratoga Oaks Invitational.

But the 3-year-old daughter of Bated Breath contracted a case of pneumonia earlier this summer and was taken out of training after she finished third in the Grade 3 Wonder Again at Belmont in May.

On Friday, Gift List returned to the work tab, breezing an easy half-mile in 54.20 seconds. Lynch said he is now targeting the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II at Keeneland in October.

“We were on the conservative side with her, especially coming off a little bout of pneumonia, so it was an easy work and it looked like she did it comfortably,” Lynch said.

Lynch said that how quickly Gift List comes around will determine if he tries to get a prep race into her before the Queen Elizabeth II.