Well Measured facing tall order in return from layoff

DEL MAR, Calif. – Well Measured has shown he can fire fresh – witness his victory first time out back in January at Santa Anita. But when he returns from a 7 1/2-month layoff in the third race Friday, he “might be short,” warned his trainer, Peter Miller.

“I had wanted to run him in a five-eighths race, but he didn’t get in,” Miller said Wednesday morning. “This was the second choice.”

The third race is at seven furlongs. Well Measured drew the rail.

“Seven furlongs off a layoff from the rail is a tough question to ask,” Miller said.

After winning his debut, Well Measured was second in a similar first-level allowance, then was third in the Echo Eddie Stakes. All those races were at Santa Anita. As with Friday’s race, all were against California-breds.

“He didn’t have anything seriously wrong with him,” Miller said of the layoff. “He just needed time to get over sore shins.”

Well Measured’s rivals include the razor-sharp Memphis, who is being wheeled back just six days after capturing a $16,000 claiming race from which he was claimed by trainer Bob Hess Jr.