Fabulous Strike Out of Breeders' Cup Sprint

Fabulous Strike, who was a favorite for the $2 million TVG Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) Oct. 27 at Monmouth Park, will not make the race, trainer Todd Beattie said Oct. 11.

Beattie informed Boston-based owner Walter Downey of Tea Party Stable the 4-year-old gelding, winner of the Sept. 30 Vosburgh Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont Park, began coughing and was found to have a lung inflammation.

"He'll be on two antibiotics for a month and the vets will check him every week.," Downey said. "He's so valuable to us; we're going to be very conservative with him. There aren't many sprint races late in the year for him, so we'll just try, if everything works out, to set up the same schedule next year to get him to the Breeders' Cup, giving him four or five prep races. We were so looking forward to going to Monmouth."

A homebred son of Smart Strike   out of the Lost Code mare Fabulous Find, Fabulous Strike has collected seven stakes wins and has earned $632,832 from nine career victories for Downey.