Santa Anita: Gervinho gets extended vacation

Gervinho, the improving turf horse who overcame a seemingly impossible trip to win the Grade 2 Sir Beaufort Stakes on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita, will be on the sidelines the remainder of the winter season.

Trainer Carla Gaines said Wednesday the 4-year-old Gervinho “needs a break.” Though she declined to be specific, Gaines suggested that Gervinho only needed time. She expects him to return in top form the second half of 2014.

“He’s going to have a vacation in preparation for a summer-fall campaign,” Gaines said.

Gervinho, owned by Santa Anita chairman Keith Brackpool, won the Sir Beaufort despite a nasty trip that would have derailed a lesser horse. Gervinho and jockey Rafael Bejarano were forced at least six-wide into the stretch of the one-mile turf stakes. He somehow regained momentum and stormed home on the far outside to win by a head.

The victory was the first graded stakes for Gervinho, and his third stakes win overall. He previously won the 2013 Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar and the 2012 Zuma Beach Stakes at Santa Anita as a 2-year-old. A son of Unusual Heat, Gervinho has won 4 of 9 starts and $422,140.