Lady Eli has easy breeze on Belmont's turf

ELMONT, N.Y. - Nearly a year to the day she last stepped on the inner turf course at Belmont Park, Lady Eli was back on that surface again Sunday morning for a half-mile workout she completed in 52.20 seconds.

Working by herself under exercise rider Walter Melasquez, Lady Eli went her first quarter-mile in 26.62 seconds and her second quarter in 25.58 in what basically amounted to a leg-stretching exercise. The work was done around a triple set of orange cones that kept all workers off the part of the course utilized for racing.

“I just wanted something better than a gallop, see how she’s moving. I was really pleased with it,” trainer Chad Brown said later at the barn. “We’ll get more serious next week, probably put her in company.”

Lady Eli, a daughter of Divine Park, is undefeated in six starts, her last one being a 2 3/4-length victory in the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Oaks Invitational on July 4, 2015. Walking back to her barn following that race, Lady Eli stepped on a nail and she developed laminitis in both front feet.

After several stressful weeks for her connections, Lady Eli’s health began to improve and she was able to resume training during the winter in South Florida. Lady Eli had four workouts from Feb. 29 through March 21 on dirt at Palm Meadows, a training center.

Following her March 21 work, Brown said he was planning to bring Lady Eli back in the Beaugay Stakes at Belmont Park on May 14.

But a few days after that March 21 work, Lady Eli developed inflammation in a front tendon that forced Brown to take her out of training.

“It was scary there for a couple of days because the tendon just didn’t look right to me,” Brown said. “Ultrasounds revealed no damage - just thickening - so we just gave her some time, did some cold salt water spa therapy, kept her in the barn and we waited until that tendon was normal and it is. We moved her to New York and she hasn’t missed a beat since.”

Brown said he won’t run Lady Eli unless he feels she can return to the top-level form she displayed at age 2, when she won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, and last year, when she won three more stakes, topped by the Belmont Oaks.

“Right now I’m treating it as we’re aiming very high; we want her back to the way she was and I’m not really going to settle for less,” said Brown, who trains Lady Eli for Sol Kumin’s Sheep Pond Partners. “I’m going to let her tell me. I’m going to put her in position to do it and it’s nice when she achieves a goal each time. I’m not going to be ungrateful for that, but I want her back to where she was and right now she’s on course to do that. But she still has a long way to go.”

If Lady Eli continues to progress it is possible she could return to the races this summer at Saratoga. Two stakes to which she would be eligible are the $100,000 De La Rose on Aug. 6 and the Grade 2, $400,000 Ballston Spa on Aug. 27.

“Those are two obvious races to nominate her to,” Brown said.

Flintshire works; Brown mulls next spot

Lady Eli was one of 13 horses Brown worked on the turf Sunday morning. Flintshire, the Grade 1 Manhattan winner, was among that group. He worked a half-mile in 49.35 seconds in company with Takeover Target, the Dixie Stakes winner.

Brown said the options for Flintshire are the Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green at Saratoga or the Grade 1 Arlington Million in Chicago on Aug. 13. The Bowling Green would be used as a prep for the Grade 1, $1 million Sword Dancer - a race Flintshire won last year - at Saratoga on Aug. 27. If the decision is made to run in the Arlington Million, Flintshire would likely not run at Saratoga.

Brown said he would discuss what’s next for Flintshire with representatives from Juddmonte Farms this week.

Brown said Takeover Target - fourth in the Poker last out- is a candidate for those same races. Brown would prefer to run Takeover Target on soft ground.