Nyala Farm’s New York-bred turfer Banrock appears to
be on the road to recovery after a virus knocked the gelding out of contention
for this afternoon’s Ashley T. Cole, a race he won in both 2008 and 2009.
“He’s back in his stall and he seems fine,” said trainer Tom
Bush. “He’s eating again and his blood is going back up, so he’s just going to
go pretty easy for awhile. I don’t know if we’ll ever figure out what it was …
we have him on some ulcer medication and he looks like he’s coming around.”
Bush said that the 1 1/8-mile Mohawk on New York Showcase
Day October 23 was “not out of the question,” but that his primary focus was
getting the horse back to peak condition.
“He’s acting himself again, but he’s not going to get the tack for awhile,” he
said. “We want to make sure he’s a hundred percent. He’s been in training for
over five years and he’d never had a sick day in his life, so it gives you
pause.”
On Sunday, Get Stormy, winner of a pair of Grade 2
turf contests at the Spa this summer in the Fourstardave and Bernard Baruch,
breezed an easy four furlongs in 52.03 over the firm Inner turf course at
Belmont, his first work since the August 27 Baruch.