Charge It will miss Travers Stakes because of foot abscess

Charge It will miss Saturday's Grade 1 Travers Stakes because of a foot abscess.

As reported earlier in a Twitter post by David Grening of Daily Racing Form, the Sept. 24 Pennsylvania Derby (G1) could be the colt's next start.

“That’s our next possible target, but the foot is going to dictate when he’s going to be ready to breeze again,” trainer Todd Pletcher told the Saratoga media team.

Initially scheduled to have his final breeze for the Travers this weekend, Charge It was out for a Sunday morning gallop, according to Saratoga media notes.

“He galloped super, but you could tell jogging back he was a little bit tender on it,” Pletcher said. “It’s one of those things where if we didn’t need to breeze again, we might be able to get it healed up before the race. But needing to get another work into him, it’s just unfortunate timing.”

Charge It most recently won the Dwyer (G3) by 23 lengths on July 2.

Pletcher trains Charge It for his breeder-owner Mandy Pope under her racing name Whisper Hill Farm. A son of Tapit out of the Indian Charlie mare I'll Take Charge, Charge It has a 5: 2-2-0 career record and $367,900 in earnings to date. Those wins include a Gulfstream maiden special weight in February. He was also second behind White Abarrio in the Florida Derby (G1) on April 2.

Before Saturday's missed workout, Charge It had worked three times since winning the Dwyer. His most recent published drill came on Aug. 13 at Saratoga. That day, he breezed five furlongs in 1:01.01.

Barring an unexpected change, this will be the third time in four years that Pletcher has not had a Travers starter. He won the race with Flower Alley in 2005 and Stay Thirsty in 2011.