Matareya unlikely to race again until next year
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Matareya, the Grade 1 Acorn winner who finished third as the favorite in the Grade 1 Test on Aug. 7, is getting turned out for a few months and probably will not run again until 2023, trainer Brad Cox said.
Matareya, owned by Godolphin Racing, will get her time off at her owner’s farm in Lexington, Ky., Cox said.
“She had a long season,” Cox said. “She’s obviously a Grade 1 winner, and with what’s left on the schedule we just thought it would be a great time to give her a break and go from there.”
Cox said it would be “highly unlikely” Matareya would be back in time for a race like the Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.
In addition to her victory in the Acorn, Matareya this year won the Grade 2 Eight Belles and Grade 3 Beaumont.
◗ Echo Zulu, last year’s 2-year-old filly champion who was scratched out of the Acorn on June 11 when the ontrack veterinarian diagnosed her as being lame, was credited with a half-mile work in 53.64 seconds Thursday morning over the Oklahoma training track.