Speaker's Corner works for return

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The eighth race from last Oct. 11 at Belmont Park proved to be one of the more productive 2-year-old maiden races run last year in New York.

Horses beaten in that seven-furlong race came back to win five stakes, including Greatest Honour (Holy Bull and Fountain of Youth), Bourbonic (Wood Memorial), Caddo River (Smarty Jones), and Original (Manila).

Speaker’s Corner, winner of that Oct. 11 race, hasn’t run back. On Wednesday, he worked six furlongs in 1:12.30 over the Oklahoma training track as he readies for a return to the races for Bill Mott and Godolphin Racing.

Mott said Speaker’s Corner suffered a hind ankle stress fracture after that race. The horse returned to the work tab in March in Florida, but after breezing for a month, he got very sick and was off the tab for two months. Wednesday’s move was his third since June 28.

“We would have been ready at Belmont, then this virus came through, he got sick, and we lost three weeks or a month with him,” Mott said. “Fortunately, he’s on the comeback trail now.”

Mott isn’t sure when Speaker’s Corner will run.

“I’ve been looking forward to running since he was cooling out last year after his maiden win,” Mott said. “It’s been a long haul. Fortunately, the owners are patient.”

– additional reporting by Mike Welsch