Harvest Moon turned out after bleeding in Santa Margarita Stakes

New medication rules in California that prohibit treating graded stakes runners with Lasix have prevented Grade 2 winner Harvest Moon from returning to her outstanding 2020 form. She has been turned out after her second bleeding episode this year.

“She bled in her last race, we took her to the farm,” Harvest Moon’s trainer Simon Callaghan said this week. “It’s twice she ran below par this year, and that [bleeding] seems to be the reason. That’s the frustrating thing with these fillies that always run with Lasix.”

Harvest Moon was treated with Lasix in every start last year, winning four straight races, including two graded stakes, and ending the season with a solid fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. When she returned in spring at Santa Anita, the no-Lasix policy was in effect.

Callaghan said she bled “a little bit” finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile, but “not as much as the second time.” That was the Grade 2 Santa Margarita on April 24. Harvest Moon finished a distant third, more than 11 lengths behind As Time Goes By.

Harvest Moon has been turned out locally, with no set timetable for a comeback.

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“We’re hoping to get the filly back on track later in the year,” Callaghan said. “Hopefully we can point toward maybe the Zenyatta.”

Harvest Moon won the Grade 2 Zenyatta last year during the Santa Anita autumn meet.

A 4-year-old filly by Uncle Mo, Harvest Moon is owned by breeder Alice Bamford and Michael Tabor. She has won four races and $382,720 from eight starts.