by Jon White
Crossing the Line, sidelined after winning the Del Mar Mile Handicap (gr. IIT), is gearing up for a return at the races at the upcoming Hollywood Park spring/summer meet, which gets under way April 23.
“He has been training at Hollywood Park for about seven weeks or so,” said John Sadler, Crossing the Line’s trainer. “He had a chip in his left front ankle taken out arthroscopically by Dr. (Wayne) McIlwraith at the clinic in Cypress (Calif.). He should return to the races at the Hollywood meet. He’ll probably have his first breeze sometime around the start of the meet.”
Crossing the Line, a 6-year-old gelded son of Cape Cross—Winds of War, by War Hawk II, won two of three starts in his native New Zealand before coming to the United States. He has won all three of his starts in this country for owners Doubledown Stable and Mike MacQuoid.
Sadler indicated the Breeders’ Cup Mile (gr. IT) this fall at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meet is under consideration for Crossing the Line, though the trainer said “he would have to be supplemented, so that’s always in the equation. That’s not something to be overlooked.”