Moreno well despite running with throat abscess in Travers; Orb pleases McGaughe

Moreno well despite running with throat abscess in Travers;

Orb pleases McGaughey

Moreno was bright and doing well after his gallant nose second

to Will Take Charge on Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million Travers at Saratoga.

Trainer Eric Guillot revealed Sunday morning that the

gelded son of Ghostzapper raced with a large abscess near his throat.

"That's an abscess that started Monday," explained Guillot,

while a stable hand jogged Moreno in a straight line outside the barn for the

trainer's inspection. "I think the worst day was yesterday. We started

compressing it. We're good to go now, but I thought I was going to have to

scratch on Monday.

"We don't know what caused it -- I think an ingrown hair, maybe, or he jerked

back on the chain. It got infected and went the wrong way. You don't want to

pack it and work on it too hard and too fast. Yesterday, we iced it. I gave him

a lot of anti-inflammatories."

While Guillot said the abscess had no impact on Moreno's

performance, the strap from his blinkers wrapped around the abscess. He is

treating the wound with silver sulfadiazine, a topical antibacterial.

Travers Day was an emotional one for the colorful Guillot,

who told anyone who would listen that the horse named after owner Michael Moreno

was one of the best in the three-year-old division.

"Everyone thought I was talking trash," Guillot said. "He just beat the Derby

winner, the Haskell winner and the Belmont winner, right?"

Guillot had predicted the key to Moreno's success would be

internal fractions, and Moreno got away on the lead with an opening quarter-mile

in :24 2/5 and a second quarter in :24 2/5, which put him up by two lengths.

On the turn for home, Moreno was in full flight and had

plenty left to turn back a bold challenge by Kentucky Derby winner Orb, only to

get caught at the wire by Will Take Charge.

"That's what we wanted," Guillot said of the manageable

fractions. "That's why he got beat a whisker.

"It was a tough loss. It left me

all emotional. I walked down to the track by myself. I wished everybody, 50,000

people, just evaporated. I wanted to be by myself for a few minutes. Then I

realized, 'I just got beat a whisker at 30-1 against the best of the best.' It's

horse racing. If his name was Guillot, he would have won by 20.

"I tried to not get all emotional and teared up, but I had to. I couldn't do

it. I didn't see (owner) Michael (Moreno); he was up in the box. I was in there

10 minutes later, and we were both crying."

Guillot said he plans to leave Moreno at Saratoga to train

up to the Grade 2, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on September 21 at Parx Racing and then,

if all goes well, he will run in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa

Anita.

"We'd run him right out of his stall," Guillot said,

referring to his home base. "It's my back yard. I've got to take that on."

While Moreno is headed to the Penn Derby, Orb likely will make his next start

in the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup on September 28 at Belmont Park,

according to Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. The horseman on Sunday expressed

satisfaction with his colt's third-place finish in the Travers.

In the Travers, Orb saved ground while stalking the pace

and loomed at the top of the stretch but was unable to match strides with winner

Will Take Charge or overtake runner-up Moreno. Orb was ridden by Jose Lezcano,

who replaced injured jockey Joel Rosario.

"I thought he ran a great race," said McGaughey, who trains

the Kentucky Derby winner for Stuart S. Janney III and Phipps Stable. "He came

to the paddock the way I wanted him to, and I thought he had running on his

mind. I thought Jose rode him great. He was down on the inside the other two

horses, and he couldn't get by Moreno, really, after that slow pace.

"I'm disappointed we didn't win, but I'm not disappointed in his effort one

bit. I thought they did a terrific job with him."

If Orb competes in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, he will be

making his first start against older horses. The Travers was his first start

since his third in the Belmont Stakes in June.

"Now we've got a good, solid race under his belt, we've got

all last winter and spring's stuff behind us," McGaughey remarked. "I think we

can really move forward now. I'm going to look at the Gold Cup. That's not to

say the Pennsylvania Derby or the (Grade 2, $500,000) Indiana Derby (on October

5 at Indiana Downs) or something is completely out of the picture, but I think

we want to go to the Gold Cup."

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