Moonlight d'Oro nearing return to racing

Moonlight d’Oro, unraced since a win in the Grade 3 Las Virgenes Stakes in Febrruary, is nearing a return to racing in the final weeks of the Santa Anita autumn meeting, which runs from Oct. 1-31.

“She’s still about three weeks away,” trainer Richard Mandella said on Thursday.

Owned by Spendthrift Farm and the My Racehorse partnership, Moonlight d’Oro won her stakes debut in the one-mile Las Virgenes in a manner that suggested she would play an important role in stakes for 3-year-old fillies in the spring. A bone chip detected in a knee put an end to those plans.

Thursday at Santa Anita, Moonlight d’Oro worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 in company with Lane’s Way, who was timed in 1:13.40 for six furlongs.

“She got a little tired,” Mandella said.

In the short-term, Mandella said he has tentative plans to start Forbidden Kingdom in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes for 2-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Oct. 1, pending a workout in coming days.

Forbidden Kingdom won his debut in a maiden special weight race at 5 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 21.

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The winner of the $300,000 American Pharoah Stakes receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 5.

There are 13 six-figure stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 1-3 that have ramifications for Breeders’ Cup races, including seven races in which the winner earns fees-paid berths.

Thursday, Mandella worked the multiple graded stakes winner United seven furlongs in 1:25.60 for the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at 1 1/4 miles on Oct. 2. United won the 2020 John Henry Turf Championship as an odds-on favorite.

United, expected to start in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 6, finished a troubled fourth as the 2-1 favorite in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap on Aug. 21.