Oscar Performance pulled up in Arlington Million as ‘precaution’

After taking a wide trip in the Grade 1 Arlington Million, Oscar Performance’s progress was halted in deep stretch Saturday by jockey Jose Ortiz. The 9/5 favorite loaded on an equine ambulance to be transported back to the barn.

Speaking to NBC’s Kenny Rice minutes after the race, Dr. Mary Scollay, the on-site veterinarian, said that “at this point there’s no evidence of lameness or injury.”

Ortiz told Scollay that he felt Oscar Performance, a multiple Grade 1 winner, take a bad step. By then, he was already headed toward an off-the-board finish in the 1 1/4-mile turf race.

“We’ll watch him carefully while he cools out to see if anything evolves, but as of right now, precaution only,” Scollay said.

The Daily Racing form also spoke with trainer Brian Lynch, who echoed Scollay. "Obviously tomorrow morning will be the tell-tale, but as of right now it looks good," Lynch told DRF.

An Amerman Racing homebred, Oscar Performance, a 4-year-old son of Kitten’s Joy, is scheduled to stand at Kentucky’s Mill Ridge Farm after this racing season. It was expected his career would conclude with Keeneland’s Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile before the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

“We’ve syndicated half the horse already and it went really well,” said Mill Ridge’s managing partner, Headley Bell, before the Million. “We syndicated him in seven days on a basis of $75,000 for the shares. We kept the other half too, rather than putting kickers on the deal, we just kept the other shares syndicated after he’s finished racing. We got a great syndicate.

“…Right now, he’d stand for $15,000 but we’ll see. There are other races in mind. Obviously, you got to get there, but he has already established himself as a proper horse.”

At 2, Oscar Performance won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. At 3, his victories included the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes on the Arlington Million undercard. And in one start entering Saturday at age 4, he set a track record in winning Belmont Park's Grade 3 Poker Stakes.

Overall, the colt sports a record of 7-0-1 in 13 starts.