Mid-Atlantic: Ravenheart sent to Florida for freshening

Ravenheart, the winner of the Maryland Juvenile Futurity at Laurel Park for owner Bode Miller’s DB Dojo LLC and trainer Tres Abbott, has been sent to Florida for a freshening and will be pointed to a spring-and-summer campaign, according to Abbott.

Ravenheart was being pointed to Saturday’s Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct, but Abbott was not satisfied with his recent training and decided that a rest was in order. Ravenheart won the seven-furlong Maryland Futurity by a head and is 2 for 4, with earnings of $56,900. Miller purchased him for $27,000 at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale.

“We worked him at Fair Hill on the 16th, and he just wasn’t 100 percent,” Abbott said. “He ran hard when he won the Maryland Futurity. We thought we’d give him a little break.”

Ravenheart has been sent to Eisaman Equine near Ocala, Fla.

Hold On Momma, a debut winner at Laurel for Miller and Abbott, also has been sent to Florida and is in training at Palm Beach Downs. Hold On Momma finished fourth in a first-level optional race in her second start.

“We were a little disappointed with her last race, but she’s doing fine,” Abbott said. “I’m going to breeze her this weekend, and then we’ll look for an allowance race either at Gulfstream or Tampa.”

Miller, a two-time World Cup alpine skiing champion and six-time Olympic medalist, purchased a barn at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland last summer that is currently being renovated. He and Abbott are 4 for 16 together this year, with purse earnings of $120,000.

“Bode came up to Fair Hill in the springtime, and I showed him around my barn and the facility,” Abbott said. “We met up the next morning for training, and I showed him how we do things. He was thinking about developing a strategy, and I said I was more than happy to help out any way I could. He had some 2-year-olds, and I told him it was time to get them in training.”

Miller’s goal is to develop a program that incorporates sports science techniques used on humans into the training of horses.

“I train them in my barn with my program,” Abbott said. “In the spring, when his barn is finished, things will be a little different. Right now, we discuss a lot of stuff, and if he has an idea on how to do something, we’ll talk about it and try to do it.”