Weaver hoping for better July

While Dorth Vader won the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps for George Weaver on June 6, the veteran trainer would like to forget the rest of June.

During the month, Weaver had barns at Belmont and Saratoga placed under quarantine for separate cases of strangles, a highly contagious disease that affects a horse’s respiratory system. Thankfully, the horses who tested positive seem to be improving.

Also, with assistance from the Department of Agriculture and the New York Racing Association, Weaver was able to transfer 16 horses – two recovering ones and 14 healthy specimens – to Aqueduct for a period of quarantine. The healthy horses, who are separated from the other two, will be able to train late morning at Aqueduct beginning Wednesday. Aqueduct has been closed to training for several years, but this is a situation with mitigating circumstances.

“The decision to move these horses was arrived at in consultation with the New York State Department of Agriculture to minimize any impact on the horse population at Saratoga or Belmont and allow for Barn 66 [at Saratoga] to be cleaned and disinfected,” NYRA spokesman Pat McKenna said.

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Weaver was limited to just three starters since racing resumed at Aqueduct on June 12 following the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.

“We missed quite a few spots there the last part of [Belmont at Aqueduct], but there’s nothing we could do about it. At the end of the day, that’s what you have to realize,” Weaver said. “It’s something we’ve never been around.”

Weaver has six horses entered at Saratoga Friday in five races, including the maiden 2-year-old fillies Miss Magical and Simone in the Schuylerville;, War Stride in a winnable allowance race; Golden Channel in the Manila; and Outlaw Kid in the Harvey Pack.

Meanwhile, Weaver said Five G, his Gulfstream Park Oaks-winning filly who was scratched out of the Kentucky Oaks by track veterinarians, is expected to resume training Aug. 1.

Colloquial, the Lafayette Stakes winner who was scratched from the Grade 1 Woody Stephens on June 6, is getting time off on the farm due to bone bruising, Weaver said. He is hopeful he can get the horse back in time to have him ready for the Grade 1 Malibu, a seven-furlong race held at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.

Dorth Vader, Weaver said, will be a candidate for either the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch at Del Mar on Aug. 2 or the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 23.

- Additional reporting by Mike Welsch

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