Got Shades back at work, eyes Arlington turf stakes

Got Shades, a troubled fifth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf after winning a pair of stakes at Louisiana Downs, is moving closer to a return to racing. He has not started since January and was to have his first work back Saturday, said trainer Danny Pish. The horse is a long-range candidate for some of the major turf stakes at Arlington Park.

Got Shades was fifth in the Grade 3 Lecomte at Fair Grounds in his most recent start and, following the race, was found to have a small bone chip in an ankle, Pish said. The chip was removed. The horse was to have breezed three furlongs at Retama Park.

“He’s back in training and galloping strongly and looking good,” Pish said Thursday.

Pish said Got Shades has been nominated to the 3-year-old turf series at Arlington, which is comprised of the Grade 3 Arlington Classic on May 24, the Grade 3 American Derby on July 12, and the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes on Aug. 16.

“The first one we won’t make, but there’s two more later in the meet, and one of those is a definite possibility,” Pish said. “I think we’re going to try to keep him on the grass. In the Lecomte, he showed [enough] that if he’s ever in a stakes race that comes off the grass, it’s not a concern. I think he’ll get some starts on the main track, but probably we’re looking for grass. We’ll just try to find straight 3-year-old races on the grass.”

Got Shades races for Dennis Foster.

Pish will have 35 horses on the grounds for the Louisiana Downs meet that opened Friday. He also has divisions of his stable at Lone Star Park and Retama. On Thursday, Pish was five wins from 500 victories at Lone Star, where he trails only Steve Asmussen and Bret Calhoun in trainer wins at the track. Pish had 3,142 starters at Lone Star through Thursday, and those horses had earned $8,523,439.

“It’s a pretty awesome feeling knowing you’re easing up on that accomplishment,” Pish, 48, said. “Steve Asmussen and Bret Calhoun are the only two other individuals to have achieved that milestone [at Lone Star], and that really puts me in good company. Both guys are excellent horsemen, hard workers, and they’re driven – driven to succeed.”

Overall, Pish is a winner of 1,746 races from 10,475 starters for stable earnings of $24 million. He will see stakes action this weekend at Lone Star and said he could have as many as six starters between both divisions of Saturday night’s Texas Stallion Stakes.