COUNTRY STAR BREEZES; NEXT START TBD
Taken from the TDN
Stonerside Stable’s Country Star (EMPIRE MAKER), runner-up to Indian Blessing for champion juvenile filly honors in 2007, breezed five-eighths of a mile yesterday in 1:02.80 over the Cushion Track at Hollywood Park, her second work back since a 40-day absence.
‘She’s doing fine,’ commented John Adger, advisor and racing manager to Robert and Janice McNair. ‘She had a nice breeze [Thursday] and is moving along.’ Winner of the GI Darley Alcibiades S. while still a maiden last October, Country Star remained in the barn while some of her peers took in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. That strategy paid dividends when the daughter of Rings a Chime (Metfield) capped her season with a smashing victory in December’s GI Hollywood Starlet S.
The time away was partly by design and partly out of necessity. ‘She had a little setback, had a bit of a fever and it lasted a little longer than we expected,’ Adger explained. ‘But given the inconsistency of the track at Santa Anita, we just thought we’d slowwalk her early in the year.’ Adger was non-committal about just where and when Country Star might kick off her 2008 campaign, but said that Keeneland’s GI Ashland S. Apr. 5 is a distinct possibility, given the results of the Alcibiades. ‘It’s obvious she likes that racetrack,’ he commented.
Beyond the GI Kentucky Oaks, Country Star will likely be campaigned on the East Coast over the summer, with the GI Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic at Santa Anita the long-term objective.
Country Star currently resides at odds of 12-1 in the second pool of the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager.
Date:
10 March 2008