Somelikeithotbrown's back on the work tab with 'no rush'

Somelikeithotbrown, last spring’s Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) winner at Turfway Park, has returned to training in Florida for trainer Mike Maker, continuing his comeback from an injury in his subsequent start, Keeneland’s Blue Grass Stakes (G2).

The son of Big Brown posted two workouts at Churchill Downs in November before heading south to resume training.

“He’s out at Palm Meadows in Florida,” said Harvey Diamond, a partner in co-owner Skychai Racing, which co-owns the colt with Sand Dollar Stable. “He’s doing about as well as we could hope for right now.”

Somelikeithotbrown underwent surgery after a fourth in the Blue Grass to repair a chipped sesamoid, dashing hopes of attempting the Kentucky Derby or other major stakes for 3-year-olds.

“We ran him in the (Jeff Ruby), which he won, and did that pretty convincingly. So we decided to take a shot in the Blue Grass and he got injured in that race requiring an operation and then laying him off for a period of time,” said Diamond. “There was no sense bringing him back as a 3-year old. We might as well wait until he turns 4.

“We’ll let him tell us where he wants to go. He loves the Turfway track.”

Somelikeithotbrown had been breezing in tandem with an unraced 2-year old also owned by Sychai Racing and Sand Dollar Stable.

“We’ve got a 2-year old that we like quite a bit, and I hope he turns out to be a race horse,” Diamond said. “His name is Fancy Liquor, out of our mare Brandys Secret, who won 12 races for us.”

After those Churchill works, Maker sent Somelikeithotbrown to Florida. While there are no concrete plans for a comeback race, the colt could return to Turfway Park, where he won the John Bettaglia Memorial before that Jeff Ruby score.

“He’s coming back slowly,” Diamond said. “We’ll take our time with him. There’s no rush. We want him to be right and hopefully be as good as he can be again.”

Somelikeithorbrown is 3-for-8 lifetime. Before his injury, connections also considered a return to the grass, as the colt finished a close third after setting the pace in the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Churchill Downs.