Om will skip Del Mar Futurity
DEL MAR, Calif. – The fastest 2-year-old in California will miss the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 3.
Om, whose second-start maiden romp earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure and stamped him as the preliminary favorite for the seven-furlong Futurity, will not run until the fall at Santa Anita, trainer Dan Hendricks said Sunday.
“He had a little filling in a hind leg and missed a few days,” Hendricks said. “There’s no reason to press, so we gave him a week off. It doesn’t seem to be anything [serious].”
Hendricks said X-rays on Om came back negative, and he expects the colt to resume training in time to prepare for a Santa Anita prep race leading to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Om could return in either the 1 1/16-mile Grade 1 Frontrunner on Sept. 27 or the six-furlong $100,000 Speakeasy Stakes on Oct. 13.
Hendricks also said stakes winner Story to Tell will not run Sept. 14 in the $100,000 Barretts Juvenile at Los Alamitos. Story to Tell is expected to aim for one of the 2-yesar-old stakes in the fall at Santa Anita.
With the defection of Om from the Futurity, the Best Pal Stakes winner Skyway has inherited likely favoritism for the seven-furlong Futurity assuming the filly Sunset Glow runs Aug. 30 in the Del Mar Debutante as expected.