Team Block’s Never Retreat,
heroine of Canada’s Grade
III Dance Smartly Stakes at Woodbine
July 10, is headed for a start in Arlington’s
Grade I Beverly D. Stakes following an impressive three quarter-mile breeze
Sunday morning at Arlington,
trainer Chris Block indicated shortly after the move.
“She had a very nice work this
morning,” Block said Never Retreat’s breeze at six furlongs clocked in 1:14
under jockey Eddie Perez. “She’s headed for the Beverly D.”
Earlier this year, Never
Retreat annexed Grade III Honey Fox Stakes in March and Keeneland’s Grade II
Jenny Wiley in April.
The Beverly D. – considered
the Arlington Million’s sister race and one of three Grade I races that will
make up Arlington’s one-day International Festival of Racing on Aug. 13 – is
now less than two weeks away.
Not so certain for the Beverly
D. is the Block-trained mare Askbut I Won’ttell, owned by Team Block and Rich
Ege, who was fourth in Arlington’s Grade III Modesty Handicap July 9 after
suffering from traffic problems in the lane. That daughter of the South
African-bred sire Horse Chestnut breezed five furlongs in 59.60 and galloped
out three-quarters in 1:13.80.
“She’s on schedule and is
still a possibility for the Beverly D.,” Block said. “We’ll probably make
a definite decision by the middle of next week.”
Team Block’s Suntracer,
runner-up behind All In Stable’s Willcox Inn in Arlington’s Grade II American
Derby July 9 and the $100,000 Arlington Classic before that May 28, breezed five-eighths
in 1:01.20 while in company Sunday morning and will be pointed for the Grade I
Secretariat Stakes as the final leg of Arlington’s Mid-America Triple on Aug.
13, Block indicated later Sunday morning.
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