Master Fencer remains on target for Belmont Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – Master Fencer walked for one hour Thursday morning outside his barn at Belmont Park, and his connections are confident there are no issues with the colt that would prevent him from running in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 8 at Belmont Park.

“Everything’s good,” said Mitsuoki Numamoto, part of the team here in New York overseeing Master Fencer’s preparations for trainer Koichi Tsunoda.

Master Fencer took an awkward step and stumbled toward the end of a seven-furlong workout Wednesday morning at Belmont Park. Later Wednesday afternoon, Master Fencer was found to have inflammation in his left front ankle. Master Fencer had both front ankles X-rayed, but according to Numamoto, the X-rays were negative.

Numamoto said that the inflammation was brought down by “just icing, simple.”

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Asked if he was confident that Master Fencer will make the Belmont, Yosuke Kono, the assistant trainer and exercise rider of Master Fencer said, with Numamoto translating, “As of now, we have done good enough training toward the Belmont so we are pretty confident for the race.”

Master Fencer was scheduled to return to training Friday. He is scheduled to have a workout next Wednesday with Julien Leparoux in the irons.

Master Fencer rallied from 19th under Leparoux to finish seventh, beaten four lengths in the Kentucky Derby. He was promoted to sixth after the disqualification of Maximum Security.

Shortly after the Derby, Master Fencer was vanned to Keeneland to train. He had two half-mile workouts at Keeneland, the last being on May 22 when he breezed a half-mile in 52 seconds. Master Fencer was put on the Kentucky vet’s list on May 23 for a 10-day period and is eligible to come off the list on June 3, one day before entries are to be taken for the Belmont.

Mary Scollay, the equine medical director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, said there are certain reasons or treatments that require a horse to be put on a 10-day vet’s list, but that some of those treatments, such as shock-wave therapy, are not required to be made public.

“I can’t comment if this horse received shock-wave therapy,” Scollay said. “He has an automatic off date. He’s under no obligation to prove anything to anyone.”