Trainer Ned Allard is hopeful he'll be able to saddle Abiding Star (Uncle Mo) in next Saturday's GI Preakness S., but the colt's participation in the second leg of the Triple Crown is contingent on the quarantine at his home base of Parx Racing being lifted in time to make it to Pimlico. Parx has been under quarantine since Apr. 1 due to an outbreak of equine herpesvirus.
“We still need the quarantine to be lifted on Tuesday, but everything I've heard from everyone is that it will be a shock if it's not,” Allard said Sunday.
The Maryland Jockey Club has announced special precautions for Parx-based horses shipping to Pimlico, should the quarantine be lifted. Parx horses would train at 5 a.m. before regular training hours and would be housed in isolation stalls on the Pimlico backstretch.
Stonehedge's Abiding Star is currently on a five-race win streak. He most recently won the May 7 Parx Derby.
Allard is hopeful the quarantine may ultimately be a good thing for Abiding Star and stablemate Always Sunshine (West Acre), who would contest Saturday's GIII Maryland Sprint H.
“As it's turned out, at least we were able to find some races in between as far as keeping them racing, and the purses were good. It really hasn't been as inconvenient as you might think. Who knows? It might have been beneficial because they got some races into them, built up their confidence and picked up some money to boot,” Allard said. “We did miss some races, and who knows how they would have turned out? But they had some races and built up their confidence.”
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