Grace Hall targets Ruffian as comeback spot

The Grade 1 winner Grace Hall, now with trainer Bill Mott, is being pointed to the Grade 2, $250,000 Ruffian Handicap at Belmont on May 11.

Grace Hall, the winner of the Grade 1 Spinaway at Saratoga in 2011 when in the barn of Tony Dutrow, hasn’t raced since she finished last as the even-money favorite in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park in April 2013. She came out of that race with a fracture to the coffin bone in her right front foot.

After her recovery, she was sent to Mott at Payson Park, where Grace Hall has worked 10 times, including a half-mile breeze in 48.80 seconds Monday.

Mott said he’s considering the Ruffian “because there’s nowhere else to prep one. There’s nothing else to run in.”

In the Ruffian, Grace Hall likely will face, among others, My Wandy’s Girl, the winner of the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap. On Monday, she worked a bullet five furlongs in 1:00.69 over the Belmont training track.

Meanwhile, Mott said Lea, the Donn Handicap winner, still has not resumed serious training after an illness forced him to miss last weekend’s $1.5 million Charles Town Classic.

Noble Moon sidelined a month

Noble Moon, the winner of the Jerome Stakes and the sixth-place finisher in the Wood Memorial, will be out of training for a month due to an ankle issue, trainer Leah Gyarmati said.

Noble Moon had missed some training this winter due to issues with both of his front feet. Gyarmati said Noble Moon would walk for 30 days and have the ankle re-evaluated before resuming training. She had hoped to run him in the Peter Pan on May 10.