Saratoga: Centre Court may return to race in 2014

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Centre Court, winner of the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland in April, will not race again this year but plans call for her to be put back in training for a potential 2014 campaign, according to trainer Rusty Arnold.

After finishing last in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa here on Aug. 24, Centre Court was sent to the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. for an examination.

Arnold said there were “no significant findings” and Centre Court will be turned out for two months. Arnold said he would bring Centre Court to south Florida, where an early-season target for her could be the Honey Fox, a race she won earlier this year.

“If she’s training great, we’re going to race her,” Arnold said. “If she takes a misstep or we see something we didn’t like she’s going to be bred.”

Arnold said he was glad to hear there was nothing wrong with Centre Court, but “I don’t know what happened to her” in the Ballston Spa.

Centre Court, a 4-year-old daughter of Smart Strike, has a record of 6-4-0 from 14 starts and earnings of $789,845.

Zito says Bulgado improving

Trainer Nick Zito said exercise rider Raymond Bulgado, who sustained a broken neck in a training accident on Monday, is improving and could be released from the hospital in a couple of days.

“He’s doing great, thank God,” Zito said Friday morning. “He could leave there soon. All he wants to do is get out of there. I hope he doesn’t jump out the fire escape.”

Zito said that while Bulgado sustained multiple fractures, his injuries will not require surgery.

Summer of Fun targets Garden City

Summer of Fun, impressive winner of the Auntie Mame overnight stakes here earlier this summer, got back to some serious work when she breezed an easy five furlongs in 1:02.57 inside the dogs over the Oklahoma turf course on Friday.

The Auntie Mame victory ended a frustrating string of near-misses in both graded and non-graded stakes for Summer of Fun, who finished third in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

“I wasn’t looking for anything too fast this morning, just an easy five-eighths the first time back since her last race,” said George Weaver, who trains Summer of Fun for the Bona Ventura Stables. “If all goes well, we’re looking at the Garden City for her next start.”

The Grade 1 Garden City is scheduled for Sept. 14 at Belmont Park.

Weaver also said he was pleased with Lighthouse Bay’s performance despite the fact she finished fifth in the Grade 1 Test on Aug. 24. Lighthouse Bay upset the Grade 1 Prioress in her previous start four weeks earlier.

“I thought she ran well even though she didn’t finish on the board in the Test,” said Weaver. “She was right there to the eighth pole and I think the final sixteenth of a mile might have shown some of her distance limitations.”

Weaver said he is undecided as to where he might run Lighthouse Bay next but mentioned the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom against older horses on Sept. 21 as a possible option.

– additional reporting by Mike Welsch