Ageless Unlikely to Compete in BC Turf Sprint

Lael Stables’ Ageless spent Friday night at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington after sustaining a cut below her left hock in her victorious run in Friday afternoon’s $100,000 Buffalo Trace Franklin County.

“They cleaned the wound and stitched it up,” trainer Arnaud Delacour said Saturday morning. “She will stay at the clinic for four days.”

Ageless, runner-up in the 2014 Buffalo Trace Franklin County, finished fourth against males in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita. With this year’s Breeders’ Cup scheduled for Keeneland Oct. 30-31, Ageless again was pointing to the race.

“Obviously, the Breeders’ Cup is now in jeopardy,” Delacour said.

Ageless rallied in the stretch to catch favored Lady Shipman in the final strides to win by a head.

“The thing that was most amazing about the race is she still dug in after what happened on the backstretch,” Delacour said. “(Joe) Bravo’s horse (Free as a Bird) clipped heels and she dropped back about two lengths.”

Lady Shipman, who had a four-race win streak snapped in Friday’s race, remains on track for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint to be run Oct. 31.

“She will stay here and be pre-entered (in the Breeders’ Cup). That’s the owner’s main goal,” trainer Kathleen O’Connell said of the 3-year-old filly, who is owned by Randy Lowe’s Ranlo Investment’s LLC.

The race was run over a course labeled firm, but one that had been subject to an early afternoon shower and light drizzle later in the day.

“I think the soft turf got her,” O’Connell said. “She was late switching leads and that cost her some momentum.

“She was bucking and playing coming back from the spit box and ate up everything last night, so you have to be pleased with that.”