She Be Wild, champion 2-year-old filly of 2009, almost certainly won’t race again until next year, trainer Wayne Catalano said Friday.
She Be Wild won the Arlington-Washington Lassie, finished second in the Alicibiades Stakes, and won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on her way to earning an Eclipse Award. Her first start at 3 produced a fifth-place finish in the Forward Gal Stakes in January at Gulfstream Park, and in April, She Be Wild finished third in the Ashland Stakes. Scheduled to make her next start in the Kentucky Oaks, She Be Wild sustained a fractured pastern – an injury that required surgery – and has not made it back to the racetrack yet.
Earlier in the summer, Catalano said that She Be Wild’s recovery, at a farm in Kentucky, was progressing forwardly, but now the filly apparently will need more time to heal.
“By the time we could get her ready, I’d say it would be next year” before She Be Wild could race again, Catalano said.
Catalano has two prospects for this year’s Arlington-Washington Lassie, scheduled for Sept. 11. Honey Chile (rhymes with ‘smile’), who won her maiden by 3 1/2 lengths at first asking on Aug. 19, is scheduled to start in the Lassie, as is Jordy Y, who has won a maiden race and an entry-level allowance during the Arlington meet.
Von Hemel fined for drug positive
Secessionist, winner of the third race June 20, tested positive for the drug ractopamine and has been disqualified by Arlington stewards. Trainer Donnie Von Hemel was fined $1,000 for the violation in a stewards ruling published Thursday.
Asked if he was appealing the ruling, Von Hemel said he had been instructed by his attorney not to comment. There is a five-day window after the issuance of a ruling for an appeal to be filed with the Illinois Racing Board.
Ractopamine has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in swine. While the drug builds muscle mass, it is classified as a beta-agonist, not a steroid. Ractopamine had been labeled a Class 2 drug by the Association of Racing Commissioners International until earlier this year, when it was downgraded to a Class 3-type medication.
All race winners at Arlington this summer are subject to super-testing, which can detect substances down to a pico-gram, or one-trillionth of a gram.
◗ The field floweth over in the featured eighth race on Sunday at Arlington, with 12 horses plus one also-eligible entered in a mile race on turf open to female second-level allowance horses or $40,000 claimers. Top contenders include Ice Mist, Embers Glowing, and Blue Smoke Bess.
