Hawkish to miss some time after throat surgery

ELMONT, N.Y. – The multiple stakes winner Hawkish, who had been under consideration for Sunday’s Grade 3 Poker Stakes at Belmont Park, will miss the bulk of the summer as he recovers from throat surgery, according to trainer Jimmy Toner.

Toner said Hawkish underwent surgery shortly after his victory in the Cliff Hanger Stakes at Monmouth in early May. Toner said the surgery was performed by Dr. Eric Parente at the New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania.

“He wasn’t getting full [lung] capacity,” Toner said. “The question was do we keep going and wait for something to happen or stop now? This way, we can still have him back for the end of Saratoga and the fall.”

Toner said Hawkish, who last year won the Grade 2 Penn Mile, is at the Fair Hill training center in Maryland. Toner is hopeful to be able to start training Hawkish by the end of the month and point to the Bernard Baruch Handicap, which is now Sept. 2, or closing day, at Saratoga.

Meanwhile, Toner will now point Hunter O’Riley to the Grade 1 United Nations Handicap at Monmouth Park on June 22 after the stewards scratched him from Friday’s Belmont Gold Cup. Hunter O’Riley was given an oral throat spray by a Toner employee at his barn the day of the race. Horses are not allowed to receive anything other than Lasix on race day.

Toner said he wasn’t at the barn when the spray was administered and called it “unfortunate.”

“It was unnecessary,” he said. “He was doing great.”