GRADE 1 WINNER CHANCE TO EXCEL TO UNDERGO SURGERY ON SATURDAY MORNING
Valeriano Racing Stable’s Chance To Excel, the winner of the Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity on June 21 and the West Coast’s top juvenile, will undergo surgery on his left knee on Saturday morning and will likely miss the rest of the 2020 racing season said trainer Monty Arrossa.
Dr. Wayne McIlwraith will perform the surgery to remove a bone chip from the gelding’s left knee.
“My guess is that he’ll miss the rest of this season,” Arrossa said of the comet Chance To Excel. “We’ll see Chance To Excel back for his 3-year-old year. It’s a heartbreaker. It’s the highest highs and the lowest low. We’re going to do what’s best for the horse. There is no question, the horse comes first.”
Chance To Excel won three out of his first four starts, including a ¾ length victory in the $1,115,000 Ed Burke Million Futurity. He also won his Ed Burke trial by daylight, while posting the fastest qualifying time of :17.31, which is the fastest 350-yard clocking by a 2-year-old here since June of 2014. After the Ed Burke win, Arrossa said that Chance To Excel was going to rest and be pointed to the Golden State Million Futurity in November. He’ll now have extended vacation and rehabilitation.
APOLLITICAL PATTY HAS MEET’S FASTEST 300-YARD TIME BY A 2-YEAR-OLD
With Chance To Excel sidelined for what appears to be a minimum of about six months, Arrossa’s 2-year-olds at Los Alamitos will now be headed by the Apollitical Blood filly Apollitical Patty. A half-sister to champion Zoomin For Spuds, Walker Family Trust’s Apollitical Patty improved her record to a perfect two-for-two after winning a 300-yard allowance event on Friday night by a 1 ½ lengths in time of :15.416 with Armando Cervantes up. Her winning time is fastest of the meet by a 2-year-old, bettering the :15.446 clocking recorded by Ed Allred’s Single Brad on May 23.
“She likes to go,” Arrossa said. “She is eligible to the Bitterroot Futurity, but we’ve decided to leave her here. We’ve paid her into the Bank of America AQHA Racing Challenge. Then she’ll go in the trials to the Golden State Million Futurity and the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity. The plan is to run her in the John Deere California Juvenile next.”
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