Palace may run once more in 2014

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Palace, a multiple Grade 1-winning sprinter in 2014 who finished sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, may not be done for the year.
Trainer Linda Rice said Friday she would work Palace over the weekend to determine whether or not to point him toward either the Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap on Thanksgiving Day at Aqueduct or perhaps the Grade 1 Cigar Mile two days later.

Palace won last year’s Fall Highweight for his first graded stakes victory. This year, Palace has added victories in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt and Forego – both Grade 1 races – and the Grade 2 True North to put himself in contention for an Eclipse Award as champion sprinter.

Palace finished sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, beaten three lengths by Work All Week. Rice said Palace bled in the Breeders’ Cup but appears to have come out of the race fine. Rice said it would be her initial plan to run Palace once more this year, then give him a break.

Though Rice said she prefers the Fall Highweight, she added, “If I feel like he’s carrying too much weight, I might try the Cigar Mile.”

Rice said that based on how Palace trains, “I think he gets a mile.”

As a Grade 1 winner, Palace would be running for the winner’s share of a $750,000 purse in the Cigar Mile. The base purse of the race is $500,000, and a Breeders’ Cup winner would be running for the winner’s share of a $1 million purse.

Trainer Bob Baffert said via text that he is considering Secret Circle, the winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, for the Cigar Mile. Other Grade 1 winners pointing to the race are Itsmyluckyday and Private Zone. Also under consideration are Bourbon Courage, Salutos Amigos, and Vyjack.