Laulne to miss time with splint injury
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Laulne, winner of the Angels Flight Stakes for turf sprinters at Santa Anita in April, is in the midst of a month-long break to recover from a splint bone injury.
Trainer Phil D’Amato said on Thursday that Laulne is scheduled to return to his stable at Del Mar in August.
“I had to turn her out,” he said. “She popped a splint. It’s something tiny, but it will cost us 30 days.”
D’Amato said it was unclear when Laulne would return to racing. She may not race again until the autumn meeting at Santa Anita.
Laulne was third as the 5-2 favorite in the Grade 3 Senorita Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in her most recent start on May 5.
Last year, while racing in France, Laulne won the Group 3 Prix Six Perfections for 2-year-old fillies at about seven furlongs. She was 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita in November in her American debut and final start of 2023.
D’Amato led all trainers at the 2023 Del Mar summer meeting with 21 wins, one more than Bob Baffert. For D’Amato, it was his first summer title since he tied for first in 2017, and his seventh title in a summer or fall meeting at Del Mar.
On Saturday and Sunday, the first two days of the Del Mar summer meeting, D’Amato has 12 runners. D’Amato has four horses entered in Saturday, all in the Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes or Oceanside Stakes, and eight runners on Sunday, including two starters in both the Wickerr Stakes and Osunitas Stakes.
On July 28, D’Amato plans to start Balnikhov, Easter, and Gold Phoenix in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf. Last July, D’Amato swept the first four positions in the Eddie Read with Gold Phoenix, Balnikhov, Masteroffoxhounds, and Count Again.
The stable has won the $250,000 Eddie Read Stakes four times since 2016.
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