Golden Ticket , dead-heat winner with Alpha of the Aug. 25 Travers Stakes (gr. I), was not pre-entered in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) to be run at Santa Anita Park Nov. 3, and will be out for an undetermined period of time, trainer Ken McPeek said Oct. 23.
"He worked really poor on Saturday and I was not happy," McPeek said of a five-furlong move over Keeneland Polytrack in 1:02.40 Oct. 20. "We scoped him after the work and he was really clogged and had a lung infection."
McPeek said the 3-year-old son of Speightstown had a 103-degree fever Saturday morning and his white blood cell count was up. Although the colt will be nominated to the Nov. 23 Clark Handicap (gr. I) at Churchill Downs, it is doubtful he will run.
"We postponed the decision until 11 yesterday morning, but it was pretty obvious he was not 100 percent," the trainer remarked. "Our goal is to get him ready for next year and have him compete with the top older horses. He will be out for a period of time."
Golden Ticket, bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm out of the Deputy Minister mare Business Plan, was a $100,000 purchase from the 2011 Keeneland Association April sale of 2-year-olds in training. Racing for Magic City Thoroughbred Partners, he has compiled a 2-4-2 record from 11 starts, with earnings of $648,335.
McPeek also said Charles Fipke's Java's War , third in the Oct. 6 Dixiana Breeders' Futurity (gr. I) at Keeneland, will not make the Breeders' Cup.
