Hollywood Park: Eddie Read candidates sidetracked

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The 2013 stakes winners Bright Thought and Tale of a Champion have had their summer campaign disrupted by minor injuries.

Bright Thought and Tale of a Champion were considered candidates for the $300,000 Eddie Read Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on turf at Del Mar on July 20, but may not start until the $200,000 Del Mar Handicap over 1 3/8 miles on turf on Aug. 24.

Bright Thought, unraced since winning the Grade 2 San Luis Rey Stakes at Santa Anita in March, was sidelined through the spring with a splint bone injury. Trainer Jorge Gutierrez had hoped to run Bright Thought in the Eddie Read Stakes and the Arlington Million in Chicago on Aug. 17.

“We gave him an extra couple of weeks of light training,” Gutierrez said. “In the long run, it’s the right thing to do.”

Tale of a Champion won the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Handicap on June 8, but emerged from the race with a minor foot problem, a gravel in his coronet band, trainer Kristin Mulhall said.

“I haven’t been able to do that much with him,” Mulhall said.

Mulhall said she would like to run Tale of a Champion in races at 1 1/8 miles on turf or farther, bringing the Del Mar Handicap onto the list of possibilities.