Gulfstream Park notes: Eldaafer injured while training

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Eldaafer, the winner of the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Marathon, has been retired after suffering a suspensory injury pulling up following a routine five-furlong work Saturday morning at Gulfstream Park.

Eldaafer, who ran in four consecutive Breeders’ Cup Marathons beginning with the inaugural edition in 2009, was prepping for what was likely to have been the final start of his career later this month in the Hawthorne Gold Cup. The 8-year-old son of A.P. Indy was coming off arguably his best performance since the 2010 Marathon, out-gaming Indian Jones to win Parx’s Grade 3 Greenwood Cup on Sept. 2.

“He’s been training well, he just took a bad step and pulled a hind suspensory,” said trainer Diane Alvarado. “To see him in pain like that this morning was devastating. It’s the part of the business I can’t handle, nobody can. He’s done so much for me and my career. But at least he’s alive, and now we can find a nice farm to retire him on and give him the life he deserves now that his racing career has ended.”

Alvarado had resisted the temptation to send Eldaafer back to a fifth straight Marathon, opting to skip the grueling 1 3/4-mile test in lieu of heading to Hawthorne for the Gold Cup.

“Obviously winning the Breeders’ Cup was the highlight of his career, but I truly believe his last race might have been the second best he’s ever run, which is amazing at his age,” said Alvarado. “Every time I put him on the van he ran his heart out. It’s really going to be strange to be without him in the barn after having him with me since the spring of 2009.”

Bahamian Squall returns to track

Trainer David Fawkes said Bahamian Squall returned to the track for the first time Saturday morning following his sixth-place finish a week earlier in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Bahamian Squall, who got a free ride into the Sprint by virtue of his victory in Calder’s Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap, could close out his 2013 campaign by defending his title here next month in the Sunshine State Stakes.

“I think they just kind of got away from him a little bit during the early stages of the Sprint and it took him out of his game,” said Fawkes. “I would have liked to have seen him a little more forwardly placed, but the leaders going 21 and 1 and 43 and change might have had something to do with that.”

Although Bahamian Squall won the Smile at Calder and finished second in the Grade 2 Vanderbilt this summer at Saratoga, Fawkes believes he handles the Gulfstream surface best of all and is looking forward to running him here this winter. Bahamian Squall won his maiden at first asking as a 3-year-old at Gulfstream and easily ran away from Fort Loudon to register a one-sided victory in last year’s Sunshine State.

“If everything continues to go well he’ll run in the Sunshine State and then we’ll pick our spots from there this coming winter,” Fawkes said.

New barn opens

The first horses have shipped into the two newly constructed barns located alongside the one-mile chute. Runners trained by Eddie Broome, Tim Hills, John Mazza, Kathy Mongeon, and Bobby Dibona are among the nearly 50 horses now inhabiting the first of the two new structures to open earlier this week. The barns will house approximately 380 horses once completed before the end of the year.

** The iron horse Decaf Again made the 90th start of his career a winning one on Friday, rallying to victory under a $6,250 claiming tag at Calder. The win was the eighth for Decaf Again, a 7-year-old son of Wised Up who is trained by Gilberto Zerpa, and his first since October of 2011.