Chief Cicatriz eyes Del Mar

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Chief Cicatriz, whose 110 Beyer Speed Figure from the June 2 Aristides at Churchill Downs is the highest so far this year in North America at a sprint distance, could be headed to Del Mar later this month, according to trainer Shawn Davis.

Possible races for him there include the July 28 Bing Crosby, a Win and You’re In event toward the BC Sprint, and the Aug. 25 Pat O’Brien, a Win and You’re In event toward the BC Dirt Mile.

Davis said he is working backward from the Nov. 3 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill and that Chief Cicatriz ideally “could run another two or three times” prior to that six-furlong race. Chief Cicatriz was scratched last Saturday from the Kelly’s Landing at Churchill after incurring a minor foot bruise in a June 23 breeze.

“We’re going to work him this weekend, probably Sunday” at Churchill, said Davis. “He’s sound now, real sound. After the work, we’ll start looking a little harder at our options.”

Chief Cicatriz, a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding by Munnings, has won eight of 11 career starts. He was bred by his owner, retired Dallas banker Roy Gene Evans. His 6 1/4-length romp in the sixfurlong Aristides came in 1:08.44.

Maiden Good Offense retired

A second bizarre incident in an eight-month period involving a maiden named Good Offense has led to the voluntary retirement of the 3-year-old gelding.

Good Offense was drawing away on the lead inside the eighth pole in the sixth race last Friday at Churchill Downs when he suddenly swerved out, tossing jockey Gabriel Saez to the dirt. The incident was very similar to what occurred on the Churchill turf last November, when Good Offense was just a few yards from winning a maiden-special race when he also ducked out sharply, throwing jockey Jesus Castanon. No one was seriously injured in either instance.

By rule, Good Offense could have been permanently barred from racing, but trainer Paul McGee said owner-breeders John and Jerry Amerman have decided to retire him.

“John said, ‘Let’s just give him a good home,’” said McGee.

The gelding was sent this week to Second Stride, a nonprofit rescue and adoption agency for off-the-track Thoroughbreds in Prospect, Ky.

Saham in good allowance spot

It’s been nearly three years since Saham posted his last victory, but the 6-year-old horse looks like he has found a spot to end the drought as the favorite in the Friday feature at Ellis Park in western Kentucky.

Saham was an up-andcoming 3-year-old when he won the Grade 3 Jefferson Cup on Sept. 26, 2015, on the Churchill turf. But while he has been remarkably consistent, never finishing worse than fourth in his last 11 starts, he has somehow remained winless since.

Saham, with Declan Cannon riding for trainer Brendan Walsh, has been assigned post 8 in the seventh of eight races, a $44,000 second-level allowance scheduled for a mile on turf. Chocolate Ride, a multiple stakes winner in for an optional $40,000 claiming tag, figures as the chief threat.

The Friday card comes in the middle of the only five-day week of the 30-day Ellis meet. Ostrich and camel races will be held between races Saturday, and the first of 10 stakes at the meet, the $50,000 Ellis Park Turf for fillies and mares, is scheduled for Sunday. First post daily is 12:50 p.m. Central.

Asmussen primed for big meet

Fresh from a big closing weekend of the Churchill meet, Steve Asmussen will be casting a larger presence than ever before this summer at Ellis. Although his top horses will be active later this month at Saratoga, where he will actually be spending most of his time, the Hall of Fame trainer not only has about 80 horses in the care of assistant Mitch Dennison at Ellis, but also has reserves to call on at Churchill.

Asmussen, the leading trainer at Ellis the last two years, set the tone by winning the first race of the meet Sunday with Kristizar. His spring meet at Churchill, where he extended his own record by winning a 19th training title, ended with six winners on the final three programs, including Sir Truebadour in the Bashford Manor and a maiden victory by Meistermind, a half-brother to 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird.

◗ Corey Lanerie will ride for the first time since the death of his wife, Shantel, when he travels Saturday to Chicago for several stakes mounts on the Million Preview Day card at Arlington Park.

Lanerie has not ridden since June 17 at Churchill. His agent, Richie Price, said Lanerie’s first day back at Ellis will be next Friday, July 13. Shantel Lanerie died June 22 and was buried last week in Louisiana.

◗ No, Kenny McCarthy has not gone out on his own, as some other longtime assistants on this circuit have done in recent times. McCarthy is listed as the trainer of Locomotion for the last race Saturday at Ellis, but that’s only because his boss, Bill Mott, began serving a seven-day suspension Thursday in New York for a medication violation dating to September 2014.