Del Mar
Mandella to scan Bal a Bali after poor effort
Shigeki Kikkawa Trainer Richard Mandella has tinkered with Bal a Bali's equipment to help him better negotiate turns.
Bal a Bali will undergo a nuclear scan before a decision is made on his future as trainer Richard Mandella tries to figure out why he ran so poorly Sunday in the Del Mar Mile, in which he finished last of six.
“He looks fine. We’ve gone over him with a fine-toothed comb,” Mandella said. “We’ll check him out, put him through a scan.”
Bal a Bali, now age 7 and now owned by Calumet Farm, has won 15 times in 26 starts in a career that was interrupted by a battle with laminitis. He returned to become a multiple Grade 1 winner. Earlier this year, he won both the Kilroe Mile and the Shoemaker Mile.