Icon Project looks unlikely for Ladies' Classic

Icon Project, who skipped last Sunday's Spinster Stakes at Keeneland, has a "less than 50-50 chance" of running in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic on Nov. 6 at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting, trainer Marty Wolfson said Wednesday.

According to Wolfson, Icon Project bled during a workout at Calder in preparation for the Spinster. She has been sent to a farm in Ocala, Fla., where she is receiving regular treatments in a hyperbaric chamber.

Wolfson theorized that Icon Project bled at Calder as a result of going from a cool climate in New York, where she last raced, to the humidity of south Florida.

Icon Project captured the at Saratoga in her last start on Aug. 30. She originally was going to run in the Beldame at Belmont Park on Oct. 3 as her final prep for the Breeders' Cup, but was re-routed to the Spinster with the intention of having a start over a synthetic surface. Keeneland has Polytrack, and Santa Anita uses Pro-Ride.

Wolfson said Icon Project is still in light training. He said there was an outside chance Icon Project could still run in the BC Ladies' Classic, but the combination of this setback, plus Wolfson's apprehension over running Icon Project on a synthetic surface, made it more likely that she would not be sent west.

Icon Project was projected as the second choice for the Ladies' Classic, behind Zenyatta, but Zenyatta might go in the BC Classic against males on Nov. 7. If both those horses come out of the Ladies' Classic, the likely race favorite would be Music Note, who won the Beldame.

- additional reporting by Mike Welsch