Art Official will bypass Friday's $250,000 Windy City Pace at Maywood Park in favor of time off in preparation for a potential Breeders Crown showdown with rival Somebeachsomewhere.
Driven by Ron Pierce for trainer Joe Seekman, Art Official won his $293,000 Tattersalls Stakes division on October 4 at The Red Mile in 1:48.3. It was his fourth race in 17 days, counting his two heats in the Little Brown Jug on September 18.
"We're skipping the Windy City , we've decided," Seekman said. "Ronnie didn't feel he was a hundred percent the other day, and we don't either. We're not going to push him around the half-mile track six days later. We know if we're going to beat 'The Beach' again we've got to be a hundred percent. We're going to tackle the Breeders Crown, so we want to get him to that point."
The Breeders Crown elimination races are November 22 at the Meadowlands Racetrack, with the $500,000 final the following weekend, November 29. Art Official's next start is scheduled for the $275,000 American National at Balmoral Park on November 1.
Art Official has won 13 of 20 races this year and earned $1.5 million for owner Sawgrass Farms LLC. He has won eight of his last nine starts, including his upset of Somebeachsomewhere by a neck in the $1.1 million Meadowlands Pace in July. His only loss since then was a third-place finish in the Little Brown Jug.
Other major wins this season include the $500,000 Hoosier Cup, the $392,850 Cane Pace, and a $134,000 division of the Bluegrass Stakes.
Somebeachsomewhere, who equaled the fastest race mile in history with a 1:46.4 triumph in his Bluegrass division on September 27, and Art Official haven't met since the Meadowlands Pace. Somebeachsomewhere has won seven in a row since then and has 11 victories in 12 starts this year. He has banked $1.7 million.
Art Official's 1:48.3 win last Saturday equaled his time from the previous week in the Bluegrass.
"Like every good horse does, he can overcome a little kink," Seekman said. "He just didn't seem as sharp as he had been earlier in the year. Maybe racing every week is catching up to him. We've just got to give him that little break that we need to compete in the Breeders Crown. When you're at that level you've got to be on your toes."
(Harness Racing Communications)