Lea to miss Ack Ack with fever

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The biggest news when entries came out for the four Saturday stakes at Churchill Downs was not who’s in, but who’s out.

Lea, the standout handicap runner trained by Bill Mott, was not among a field of five in the Grade 3 Ack Ack when entries were drawn Wednesday.

“He spiked a temperature Monday at Saratoga,” said Walker Hancock, president of Claiborne Farm, the co-breeder and co-owner of Lea with longtime partner Adele Dilschneider. “It’s not in his best interests to have him run.”

Hancock said further evaluation will be required to determine when Lea might run again. The 5-year-old horse is unraced since earning a 114 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the Grade 1 Donn Handicap on Feb. 9. He has had nine workouts since being sidelined in early April, also because of a fever.

The defection of Lea appears to leave Carve and Bradester as the likely favorites in the $100,000 Ack Ack, a one-turn, one-mile race carded early on an 11-race card.

The Saturday anchors are twin 2-year-old races, the Pocahontas and Iroquois. Both 1 1/16-mile races are Win and You’re In events toward the Breeders’ Cup while also kicking off the points races (10 points to the winner) in their respective divisions toward the 2015 Kentucky Derby and Oaks.

Here is a quick rundown of the Saturday stakes at Churchill:

◗ Grade 2, $200,000 Pocahontas (race 10): Take Charge Brandi, the runner-up in the Schuylerville Stakes on opening day at Saratoga for D. Wayne Lukas, could be a slight choice in a race filled with interesting new faces. Ten fillies are entered.

◗ Grade 3, $100,000 Iroquois (race 9): Lukas clearly has the main player among these nine colts and geldings in Mr. Z, the runner-up in the Sanford and Saratoga Special.

◗ $100,000 Locust Grove (race 8): On Fire Baby figures to have a stern test when facing Don’t Tell Sophia and Molly Morgan among a field of seven fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles.

◗ Grade 3, $100,000 Ack Ack (race 4): Carve is going for a fourth straight win, while Bradester is entered off a pair of runner-up finishes in which he earned triple-digit Beyers.