Retirement on hold, Morticia entered for turf sprint
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Like a rock star back for an encore, Morticia isn’t finished playing after all.
“After what happened in the Breeders’ Cup and all, we reconsidered her retirement,” said Rusty Arnold, who trains and co-bred 5-year-old Morticia with his longtime client G. Watts Humphrey.
“A 6-year-old mare (Belvoir Bay) won the Turf Sprint, and a 6-year-old mare (Blue Prize) won the Distaff. This mare is in perfect health, and with everything factored in we thought we’d run her next year at 6.”
Morticia is back in the entries for Thursday at Churchill Downs as a freshly minted millionaire who most recently was second in what was supposed to be her career finale, the Oct. 11 Franklin County at her home track, Keeneland. She’s the reason the Humphrey stable entry (with Pastime) is listed as the 4-5 favorite in the sixth of 10 Thursday races, a $105,000 allowance with wide-open conditions.
Arnold, however, was unsure Monday whether Morticia will actually run Thursday or just head straight to Humphrey’s Shawnee Farm in Mercer County, Ky.
“I don’t like how this weather is looking,” he said, referring to unseasonably cold temperatures and the possibility of rain or snow forecast for this week. “I won’t run her over soft ground. Either way, she’ll be headed to the farm and will come back to me in Florida in mid-January. We’ll point for a return to Keeneland in April, then Kentucky Downs, and then hopefully the Breeders’ Cup, which is right here at Keeneland next fall.”
If Morticia is scratched Thursday, favoritism in the 5 1/2-furlong allowance could go a few different ways, assuming the race remains on turf as scheduled. Mentality, a last-out allowance winner at Belmont Park for Wesley Ward, is a worthy heir, as are Rocky Policy and May Lily, the respective 2-3 finishers behind the highly accomplished Hotshot Anna in a high-end turf-sprint allowance last month at Keeneland.
If the race is forced to the main track, then a pair of alternates, Shanghai Tariff and Lady T N T, would become the fillies to beat.
The feature is the start of the late pick five (races 6-10) on a card that starts at 1 p.m. Eastern. The sequence includes a second six-figure allowance scheduled for turf – a $102,000 third-level turf mile (race 9) that also drew an oversubscribed field. Midnight Tea Time, Secretary at War, and Souter all should take their share of tote action in a real scramble assuming the race stays on turf.
