Laurel: A. P. Indian ready to resume training
A. P. Indian, the East’s top sprinter of 2016, has been freshened since his fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint but is scheduled to go back to work next week, according to trainer Arnaud Delacour.
A. P. Indian went into the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita undefeated in six starts this year but couldn’t muster a rally as Drefong and Masochistic ran one-two throughout.
“He came out of the Breeders’ Cup well, but I was a little bit surprised how he ran,” Delacour said. “It looked like he got a little tired, and I thought I had him ready. It is possible he did not like the track.”
A. P. Indian, an Indian Charlie gelding who will turn 7 on New Year’s Day, was returned to Delacour’s base at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland after the Breeders’ Cup and given a vacation. He has since been moved to a farm in Ocala, Fla., and will soon be sent to Tampa Bay Downs.
“The plan all along was to give him a break after the Breeders’ Cup,” Delacour said. “We have been turning him out six hours a day. We are going to put the tack back on him Jan. 1.”
A. P. Indian was consistent from start to finish in 2016, winning a pair of Grade 1 races at Saratoga, the Vanderbilt and the Forego, in addition to the Grade 2 Phoenix at Keeneland, the Grade 3 Belmont Sprint Championship, and the Donald LeVine Memorial at Parx. He also was placed first in the Decathlon Stakes at Monmouth Park.