Shadwell Stable’s
Tajaaweed, clearly best in Saturday’s Grade III Arlington Handicap, will
continue on his projected road to the Grade I Arlington Million five weeks
later on Aug. 13, according to trainer Dan Peitz.
“I guess I started thinking
about this plan last October at Keeneland,” said Peitz Sunday morning during
training hours. “I remember talking to Rick Nichols, general manager of
Shadwell in Lexington
about it after Tajaaweed finished fourth in the (Grade III) Sycamore
Stakes. He asked me if I wanted to take the horse to Hot
Springs and try to win a stakes at Oaklawn or possibly
at Fair Grounds. I told him what I’d really like to do is freshen the
horse up like they used to do in the old days and then point him toward another
run in the Arlington Handicap and the Arlington Million like we did last
year. He told me that if that was what I wanted to do, the plan sounded
good to him, too, so that’s what we did. We turned him out.
“So far, my plan seems to be
coming to fruition,” Peitz said of Tajaaweed, who finished third in last year’s
Arlington Handicap and sixth in the Million. “And now, after his win
yesterday, we get a free ride to the Million (Million nomination fees waived
after Saturday’s victory). That was a nice race he ran yesterday and I
think he’s running a little better this year than last, and now, hopefully, we’ll
have a good five weeks to get him ready for the Million.”