Vodka Vodka, second in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in March, will miss the Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 25 because of foot issues.

Trainer and co-owner Aggie Ordonez said on Friday that Vodka Vodka emerged from a win in his last start in the $250,000 Sunland Park Handicap in New Mexico on April 5 with a bruised foot.

“When he ran at Sunland Park, he stumbled at the break and pulled a shoe off,” Ordonez said. “We’ve had some repercussions from that. He bruised the foot. He’s blown a couple of abscesses out.”

The Puma, scratched from the Kentucky Derby the morning of the race due to a swollen pastern apparently resulting from a skin infection in his leg, returned to his home base at Gulfstream Park on Thursday where he’ll continue preparations for the second half of his 3-year-old campaign.

The current plan is to launch his comeback in the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 18.

The speedy stakes winner Boss Sully is unlikely to race again in the near future after a win in his 2026 debut in the Siren Lure Stakes at six furlongs on turf at Santa Anita on Sunday.

Trainer Brian Koriner said earlier this week that Boss Sully will be raced sparingly this year, with the goal of running in lucrative stakes leading to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 31.

“We know he runs good fresh,” he said. “We’re not in a hurry to do anything.”

Florida-based trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. had a perfect Memorial Day at Santa Anita last year, winning the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes with Be Your Best and the Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup with Skippylongstocking.

With different runners, Joseph will have starters in the same races this year on May 25.

Joseph said on Thursday that Forged Steel, the winner of an allowance race at Oaklawn Park on May 2, will start in the $200,000 Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles on dirt, while Hang the Moon will run in the $300,000 Gamely Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf for fillies and mares.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Mr. A. P., second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar last October at 20-1, has resumed workouts at Santa Anita after an extended rest.

Trained by Vladimir Cerin for David and Holly Wilson, Mr. A. P. worked three furlongs 36.80 seconds on Monday. Cerin said he timed Mr. A. P. galloping out a half-mile in 49.80 seconds.

“It will be the summer before he runs,” Cerin said on Wednesday. “We’ll take it one step at a time. He’ll work five-eighths once, and maybe we’ll make a plan.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella plans to have starters in the three major stakes at Santa Anita on May 25 – the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile, Grade 1 Gamely Stakes, and Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup.

The May 25 program is the most lucrative of the track’s spring meeting, which began in mid-April and continues through June 14.

The rich allowance races, they just keep on coming Friday at Churchill – three of them, worth a total of about $416,000.

Race 6 is a second-level allowance with an $80,000 claiming option restricted to older fillies and mares and carded for 1 3/8 miles on grass. Argentine import Ceniza Pampa looks live here.

Race 8 is a third-level allowance with a $100,000 claiming option, also restricted to older fillies and mares and carded for 1 1/16 miles on dirt. Peignor is the pick.