Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Daddys Lil Darling earns rest
ARCADIA, Calif. – After a hectic 2017 that included starts at seven tracks, Daddys Lil Darling earned a vacation with her win in Saturday’s Grade 1 American Oaks at Santa Anita.
Trainer Ken McPeek said Daddys Lil Darling will have a 45-day rest in south Florida before she resumes training for a 4-year-old season in 2018.
“We’ll point for the spring, maybe something at Keeneland,” he said.
Daddys Lil Darling has earned a rest. The American Oaks was her first win in a Grade 1 in her seventh try. She was second in three Grade 1 races earlier this year, notably the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs in May and the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland in October.
McPeek thought through the season that Daddys Lil Darling would win a Grade 1, but did not expect to wait until the secondto-last day of the year.
“What are you going to do but keep trying?” McPeek said. “It was a bit frustrating because she was always competitive, but didn’t have things go her way.
“She tries hard on any kind of going, and that makes a trainer’s job pretty easy.”
Owned by breeder Nancy Polk, who races as Normandy Farm, Daddys Lil Darling has won 4 of 15 starts and earned $1,138,405. Logical targets for her include the Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Park in August and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.
There is always the possibility of a start on the main track. In the Kentucky Oaks, Daddys Lil Darling was beaten 1 1/4 lengths by Abel Tasman.
“I think she’s adaptable,” McPeek said. “We could run her on dirt. It doesn’t matter.”
Giant Expectations to Pegasus
Trainer Peter Eurton said that Giant Expectations, the upset winner of the San Antonio on opening day Dec. 26, would make his next start in the $16 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 27 after securing a spot in that field. He will be using one of the three spots the Stronach Group purchased to fill out the 12 horse starting gate.
“When he gets his trip, he’s plenty good,” Eurton said Sunday.
The Pegasus will be topped by Gun Runner, the odds-on favorite to be named Horse of the Year for 2017, as well as Collected and West Coast. Those were the first three across the wire in the Breeders’ Cup Classic two months ago at Del Mar.
Collected was among the horses Giant Expectations defeated in the San Antonio.
Cool Bobby off Derby trail
Cool Bobby, one of the top Kentucky Derby prospects on the West Coast, is off the Derby trail after undergoing surgery for a chip in his left front ankle, trainer Peter Eurton said Sunday at Santa Anita.
Cool Bobby would have been one of the top contenders in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes on Jan. 6. But two days after his most recent workout, at Santa Anita on Dec. 15, “he had a little heat,” Eurton said.
“We took a picture – bingo,” Eurton said.
Eurton said Cool Bobby would need 60 days of downtime and at the earliest would not return until May. He said the injury was less serious than one sustained early in 2017 by his champion filly Champagne Room, who has returned to action.
“They can come back good,” Eurton said. “You just have to give it time.”
Cool Bobby, by Shanghai Bobby, was second in his debut at Santa Anita on Oct. 9 before beating maidens at Del Mar on Nov. 11 in his second start. One of the horses he beat in that race, fifthplace finisher Kanthaka, came back to beat maidens in his next start at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.
Cool Bobby was purchased as a yearling for $575,000. He is owned by Lee and Susan Searing’s C R K Stable.
Silent Bird may stretch out
Both of Silent Bird’s stakes wins have come sprinting, but trainer Mark Glatt said he would like to try Silent Bird at two turns later in 2018.
Silent Bird won his first graded stakes in the Grade 3 Midnight Lute Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on Saturday. Glatt said a short-term goal is the Grade 1 Triple Bend Stakes at seven furlongs on March 10.
“I wouldn’t mind trying to run him at a flat mile,” Glatt said. “We haven’t been able to string enough races together to run two turns.”
Silent Bird has been plagued with feet issues that have limited him to nine starts in a career that began in late 2015. Silent Bird had four starts in both 2016 and 2017. A 6-year-old in 2018, he missed a start in the Damascus Stakes at Del Mar in early November because of an abscess in a foot.
“He’s had abscesses in three of his four feet – all at different times,” Glatt said.