Infrattini Working Toward a Return
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George and Lori Hall’s homebred Pants on Fire turned in one of the outstanding performances by an American middle-distance horse in 2013 with
his stakes-record run last week in the one-mile Ack Ack Handicap (GIII) at Churchill Downs.
His stakes record time of 1:33.78 narrowly missed the track standard of 1:33.31 established last November by Z Thoroughbreds LLC’s Infrattini in the third victory of what would become a four-race winning
streak.
There’s a chance that Pants
On Fire will head to Santa Anita next time out for the Breeders’ Cup
Dirt Mile (GI), where he could be among the race favorites after his
fast effort beneath the Twin Spires. But the horse
that still holds the mile record is still around, and he’s working
toward a return to competition.
Infrattini breezed three
furlongs in :36.20 on Thursday at Churchill Downs. He had returned to
serious training on Aug. 23 with a three-eighths move in :38.40, his
first listed workout since an injury forced him to
the sidelines in April.
“He looks good,” trainer Paul McGee said. “That was a good breeze yesterday. He’ll go a half-mile next week and progress that much more.”
Infrattini,
a 5-year-old son of Include, had shown promise throughout his career
with good performances that included a runner-up finish
in Churchill Downs’ Matt Winn (GIII) in 2011. But he caught fire last
fall with allowance wins over synthetic Polytrack surfaces at Arlington
Park and Keeneland prior to his record-setting mile run over the dirt at
Churchill Downs.
He ran his winning streak to four with a victory over Mark Valeski
in the Louisiana Handicap at Fair Grounds, but saw his winning streak
snapped when Infrattini ran fifth to that rival in the Mineshaft
Handicap
(GIII) in late February.
McGee had hoped Infrattini
would start a new streak of success over his home track at Churchill
Downs, where he has yet to finish worse than second in five races. But
the injury forced an adjustment in that plan.
“We stopped on him back in
the spring and took a chip out of ankle,” McGee said. “We were pointing
him to the Alysheba (GII) on Kentucky Oaks Day.”
If all goes well over the next few weeks, McGee hopes that Infrattini will return to competition sometime during Churchill Downs Oct. 27-Nov. 29 Fall Meet. His career record stands at 6-5-0 in 17 races with earnings of $334,452.
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