Simply Joking back in training

Simply Joking has resumed regular training after a mild illness forced her scratch from the Rachel Alexandra Stakes on Feb. 15.

Winner of the Letellier Stakes over six furlongs in her Dec. 21 career debut and the one mile 70-yard Silverbulletday in her second outing on Jan. 18, Simply Joking didn’t eat with her normal gusto on Feb. 13. Her trainer, Whit Beckman, ordered a blood test, which showed Simply Joking to be harboring what was presumed to be a virus, forcing her withdrawal from the Rachel Alexandra.

“She seems to have come through her little bout with whatever it was, a little virus. Her blood work is all normalized and she’s back training,” said Beckman, who hopes to breeze Simply Joking sometime this week.

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If Simply Joking picks up training with her typical verve, she still could make the Fair Grounds Oaks on March 22. The Ashland Stakes two weeks later at Keeneland presents another option if Beckman feels Simply Joking requires more time before she’s ready to resume racing.

Another Fair Grounds-based, Beckman-trained 3-year-old filly, Her Laugh, worked a half mile in 49 seconds on Feb. 22, her first breeze since a troubled second-place finish Feb. 8 in the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. In December, Her Laugh won the Untapable Stakes. She, too, is a candidate for the Fair Grounds Oaks.

Finally, Beckman will consider sending Flying Mohawk to Turfway Park for the $777,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks on March 22. Flying Mohawk has made his five starts on turf, scoring a sharp maiden win at Churchill Downs before smartly clearing his first allowance condition in defeating the talented States Rights on Jan. 30 at Fair Grounds.

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