Eightyfiveinafifty Fires Saratoga Bullet

Eightyfiveinafifty, speedy winner of the Grade 3 Bay Shore at Aqueduct in 2010, is still weeks away from a return to racing even after turning in a bullet work over the main track at Saratoga Wednesday morning, covering five furlongs in 59.76, handily.

Owned by Harold Lerner, et al, Eightyfiveinafifty has been away from the races since a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens on Belmont Stakes day last year. He suffered from a bad case of pneumonia last summer and his work pattern in 2011 has been somewhat sporadic due to miscellaneous setbacks.

“He got a little tired towards the end of the work this week, so we’re still not there yet,” said trainer Gary Contessa. “For the last year, that horse has been one step forward, two steps back, so hopefully we’ll take one step forward and keep going forward for a change. I was at Aqueduct saying ‘Oh, yeah, he’s a few weeks away from running,’ and then I was saying that at Belmont and now we’re at Saratoga thinking he’s a few weeks away from running, so we’ll see what happens. He’ll probably work one day towards the middle of next week – with him, it’s one day at a time, and you’ve got to pick your spots.”

Eightyfiveinafifty started his career during the 2009 Saratoga meet, finishing third in his debut behind eventual Grade 1 winner Dublin.