Awesome Feather On Course for Gazelle
2010's Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Awesome Feather is gearing up for her second start of 2011 in next Saturday's
Grade 1, $250,000 Gazelle and will likely turn in her final work for the
race on Monday, November 21.
Sidelined with a tendon
issue for most of the year, Awesome Feather won her comeback race, the
seven-furlong Le Slew stakes at Belmont Park on October 5, to remain a
perfect seven-for-seven.
"She's on target for the
Gazelle and is doing really well," said Chad Brown, who trains the
daughter of Awesome of Course for Stronach Stables. "She'll probably
breeze on Monday. She's held up really well and she hasn't had a bad day
of training. Not one day. I'm excited to see her run around two turns
at Aqueduct and see what she can do in a Grade 1."
The
Le Slew was Awesome Feather's first start for Stronach and Brown. As a
juvenile, she was campaigned by her breeder, Jacks or Better Farm, and
trained by Stanley Gold. Stronach purchased her at the Fasig-Tipton
Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale in 2010 for $2.3 million.
"It
would be a nice reward for the Stronachs," Brown said of a victory in
the Gazelle. "They have been patient with this filly and gave me a lot
of leeway with her. I just make sure she is 100 percent every day when
we go out there, and she has been. It would be nice to reward them for
their patience. She's a really gutsy horse - she just has a great
attitude about her."