Fighting Seabee goes out with minor injury

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – While several of his best horses are nearing their 2020 debuts, trainer Kenny McPeek has shelved his top Kentucky Derby hope after Fighting Seabee recently suffered a minor injury in training at the Summerfield training center.

“He was marginal for the Derby anyway, but you never know how they might develop,” McPeek said. “He’ll be out at least 60 days.”

Fighting Seabee was seventh at 9-1 in the Nov. 30 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs in his final start at 2 after finishing second in the Street Sense.

“He might just be a grass horse anyway, so we’ll probably look that way when he comes back,” McPeek said.

Fighting Seabee won his maiden and the Grade 3 With Anticipation on turf last summer.

Meanwhile, Grade 1 winner Restless Rider had her first breeze since recovering from a quarter crack and is being pointed to the Feb. 15 Royal Delta Stakes at Gulfstream Park, where McPeek has most of his accomplished older horses stabled this winter. McPeek also is spending considerable time with his younger horses at Summerfield, his newly acquired training center that once was part of the former Padua Stables property in Ocala, Fla.

Restless Rider, unraced since finishing 13th in the Kentucky Oaks in May, was entered at Keeneland in October when her latest setback occurred.

“She missed more time than we wanted, maybe three weeks, but she’s going good again,” McPeek said.

Also, Signalman, winner of the 2018 Kentucky Jockey Club, returned to the work tab for the first time since finishing second to Mr. Money in the Matt Winn at Churchill in June when he breezed three furlongs Saturday at Gulfstream.

“We might bring him back on the grass when he’s ready in four or five weeks,” McPeek said.

Motu, second to Finite in the Golden Rod at Churchill in late November, is being pointed to the Suncoast Stakes next month at Tampa Bay Downs, McPeek said, adding that Swiss Skydiver and Miss Important also are being considered for that Feb. 8 race.

Attard picks Sunshine Millions

Although she was among the original invitees to the Pegasus World Cup Turf on Jan. 25, Starship Jubilee will run instead this weekend as the biggest name Saturday among the four Sunshine Millions races at Gulfstream.

Trainer Kevin Attard said Starship Jubilee will be going in the $150,000 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf, her first start since finishing second as the 1-2 favorite in the Grade 3 Cardinal at Churchill in November. This will be the 33rd “but not necessarily the last” start, said Attard, for Starship Jubilee, an earner of more than $1.17 million for Blue Heaven Farm.

The other Sunshine Millions events are the $200,000 Classic, the $150,000 Turf, and the $100,000 Sprint. Entries were to be drawn Wednesday.

Pair of Thursday allowances

A 10-race card featuring two allowances with short lineups of female runners are among the offerings here Thursday, when first post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern.

Race 3, for older fillies going 1 1/16 miles, figures to have

Cuddle Kitten as the one to beat in a field of just five. Irad Ortiz Jr. has the call for trainer Jorge Navarro.

In race 9, for 3-year-old fillies at a one-turn mile, the other riding Ortiz brother, Jose, has a choice mount in Global Ambition, whose runner-up finish in a Laurel Park allowance is likely to help make her favored in a field of six.

The second allowance is part of the 20-cent Rainbow 6, which spans races 5-10. The Rainbow jackpot stood at $2,371,995 entering Wednesday action.

Violent City debuts a winner

Violent City earned an 81 Beyer Speed Figure as a fourlength debut winner over the highly touted Palm Springs in a six-furlong maiden race here Saturday. The 3-year-old Violence colt is trained by Ian Wilkes for the Lothenbach Stables of Minnesota businessman Bob Lothenbach.

“I wouldn’t rule anything out, but we’ll maybe go into an allowance, maybe stretch him out a little farther,” said Wilkes, who has won with just 24 of 616 first-time starters (3 percent) in his 14-year career. “You know when I get them to win first time that they’re usually pretty good.”

Violent City “has a tremendous mind, an unbelievable mind,” Wilkes said. “He’s always shown talent. I’m happy for Mr. Lothenbach. He’s playing the game at a higher level and really loves the game.”

◗ Hidden Scroll, who got a 104 Beyer for his debut victory on the 2019 Pegasus undercard, will make his first start since finishing third in a race on the 2019 Kentucky Derby undercard in Friday’s race 9 feature, a first-level allowance at six furlongs. Hidden Scroll was defeated as the favorite in three starts following his debut.