Acclamation was resting comfortably in his stall at Barn 66 Thursday
after heat was discovered in his right foreleg some time after the
5-year-old California-bred son of Unusual Heat captured his fifth
straight graded stakes, the Grade II Clement L Hirsch Turf Championship
at Santa Anita on Oct. 2.
Prior to that he won the Jim Murray, the Charlie Whittingham and
the Eddie Read before taking the Grade I Pacific Classic on Del Mar’s
Polytrack.
“We’re trying to cool it out,” trainer Don Warren said of the
leg Thursday morning. “It’s a little bit better and there’s no obvious
heat. We could probably get over it soon and run again, but it was time
for a rest anyway. This way we can save him for next year.”
Acclamation, winner of nine of 28 starts with earnings of more
than $1.6 million, was being considered for the Breeders’ Cup Turf or
possibly the Classic at Churchill Downs Nov. 5.
“He’ll go up to our farm near Fresno in a few days and be turned
out in a grass paddock just like we did last year,” part-owner Bud
Johnston told Daily Racing Form. “Then we’ll set out a program to see if
we can get him to the Breeders’ Cup next year at Santa Anita.”