Lady Eli up to jogging in comeback

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Lady Eli, who contracted laminitis after winning the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational on July 4 at Belmont Park, has been jogging on a regular basis for nearly a week at the Palm Meadows training center. Trained by Chad Brown, Lady Eli has won all six of her starts and is among the candidates for an Eclipse Award as top female turf horse in 2015.

“She was tack-walking, and now she’s been jogging for a few days, and she couldn’t be moving any better,” said Brown, who trains Lady Eli for the Sheep Pond Partners. “We’re very excited. We’ve taken little steps, and so far, she’s hit every one of them.”

Brown said bringing Lady Eli back this winter is reminiscent of the comeback he orchestrated with Eclipse champion Awesome Feather at Palm Meadows in 2011. Awesome Feather returned from tendon issues and a one-year hiatus following her victory in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies to post four straight victories, including the Grade 1 Gazelle during the fall of 2011.

“It’s one of those situations where you set goals for them and try to hit your list of goals, and when they do, you set another goal a little higher,” said Brown. “We’re taking the same approach with Lady Eli as we did with Awesome Feather, only with a different injury. You just have to have the patience, and you have to have the horse who can do it, and I think we have the horse.”