Field for Fire Plug uncertain

The status of three Belmont Park-based horses entered in Saturday’s $100,000 Fire Plug Stakes at Laurel Park remained up in the air Thursday afternoon as New York officials awaited test results that could lift an equine herpesvirus quarantine.

If the results come back negative on the Linda Rice-trained horse who earlier tested positive for equine herpes, and the quarantine on Barn 44 at Belmont ends, Do Share, Life in Shambles, and Chief Lion will be allowed to compete at Laurel. If the quarantine is extended, they will be scratched.

Do Share, winner of the Gravesend at Aqueduct on Dec. 23 for Rice, may not start even if allowed. Rice has nominated him to the Grade 3 Toboggan at Aqueduct next Saturday and is weighing her options. Do Share is 2 for 2 since returning in December from a five-month freshening.

If Chief Lion goes in the Fire Plug, a lightning pace is

assured. The David Jacobson runner is exceptionally fast and will take the field as far as he can. In November, Chief Lion went wire to wire to win the $200,000 Fabulous Strike at Penn National by a halflength over Favorite Tale. In the Gravesend, he set the pace before tiring to finish seventh.

Favorite Tale will be coming back on 12 days’ rest after winning the $100,000 Dave’s Friend at Laurel. The Dave’s Friend was Favorite Tale’s first win in four starts following a 17-month layoff.

Despite the quick turnaround, trainer Lupe Preciado said Favorite Tale is likely to run, partially because the Grade 3, $250,000 General George, a seven-furlong race at Laurel on Feb. 17, is a bit too far for him.

“He came back good from the race and there really isn’t much for him right now,” Preciado said. “I want to keep him at three-quarters. I have tried him several times at seven furlongs and he doesn’t finish.”

Favorite Tale, who finished third in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Sprint before injuring a knee the following spring, is now 7. His Dave’s Friend win increased his earnings to more than $1 million.

“He is more professional now,” Preciado said. “He knows why he is out there.”

Something Awesome was shipped to Maryland from Woodbine by the Stronach Stable in early October and turned over to trainer Jose Corrales. He has since turned in two career-best optionalclaiming victories.

“Maybe it’s the surface,” Corrales said. “Maybe he likes my program, how I do things. And he’s not just a three-quarters horse. I think he will be able to go a mile, a mile and a sixteenth, and do it easier than he is doing three-quarters.”

Corrales’s association with Andy and Frank Stronach dates to 2010, when he was training in Ohio. He relocated to Maryland with horses for the Stronachs in late 2011 and now operates a public stable.

“The Stronachs have been so good to me,” Corrales said. “I want to win a stakes for them and to develop a nice horse for them. Something Awesome is the best horse I ever have trained.”

Life in Shambles made the lead in the stretch of the Gravesend but was caught by Do Share in the final sixteenth and beaten a half-length. An old pro at age 7, he always tries hard for trainer Steve Asmussen and fits with this field.

Someday Jones, a 5-year-old with six wins in 10 starts, has had two injury-related layoffs in his career, but comes into the Fire Plug off a sharp optionalclaiming comeback score at Parx Racing.

“He has always had a ton of talent, he’s just been plagued by injury,” trainer John Servis said. “He’s still a really nice horse.”