Hofburg returns in second-level allowance

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Hofburg, who underachieved a bit as a 3-year-old, makes his 4-year-old debut Thursday in a second-level allowance race at Saratoga.

The race will be Hofburg’s first since he finished sixth as the 8-5 favorite in the Grade 2 Fayette Stakes at Keeneland last Oct. 27. Trainer Bill Mott said he turned Hofburg out for several months and had hoped to run him in an allowance race at Churchill Downs in the spring, but the horse developed a bruised foot. He’s had three breezes since resuming training following that issue.

“We’re probably a little shy on training, but this race probably won’t come back for another month,” Mott said.

As a 3-year-old, Hofburg finished second in the Florida Derby and then seventh in the Kentucky Derby. He tried to make a run at Justify in the stretch of the Belmont Stakes, but finished third. After winning the Curlin Stakes here at the same 1 1/8 miles as Thursday’s race, Hofburg missed the Travers with an illness and ran fourth behind McKinzie in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby.

Hofburg will face six rivals in this race, including Roaming Union and Royal Albert Hall, both trained by Rob Atras and both in for the optional $62,500 claiming price.

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Mott hopes to have Elate back Friday

Stall 7 in Bill Mott’s Saratoga barn remains empty, but the Hall of Fame trainer hopes not for too much longer.

That is the stall Elate resides in, and Mott hopes she will be permitted back on the grounds of Saratoga by the end of the week.

The NYRA has put a hold on horses shipping to any of its tracks from Delaware Park until further notice due to two confirmed cases of strangles, a disease that can impact the respiratory tract, at that track earlier this month. While Delaware Park permitted horses to ship in to race, some tracks have not allowed those horses to return.

Mott said he was told that if there are no more concerns on the part of NYRA by Friday, Elate could return then.

“Cross our fingers and hope nothing happens between now and Friday,” Mott said.

Elate shipped to Delaware Park, where on Saturday she won her second straight Grade 2, $750,000 Delaware Handicap. That came following her victory in the Fleur de Lis at Churchill on June 15.

“She got a cleaner run earlier,” Mott said. “At Churchill he wasn’t able to let her run on the turn at all. Here he put them away leaving the three-eighths pole.”

Mott plans to run Elate in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 24.