HOT SPRINGS, Ark.—Call Me Jamal is probably out for the summer after emerging from a 6-furlong workout last Sunday with an injury, trainer Mike Puhich said Tuesday morning. The 1:13.40 work was Call Me Jamal’s final intended major move for Saturday’s $1.25 million Arkansas Derby (G1).
“He came out of it and was OK,” Puhich said. “He got in the stall and had some filling in an ankle.”
Puhich said the injury won’t require surgery and the gelding will be re-evaluated in about 60-90 days. A son of the late Malibu Moon, Call Me Jamal was a two-time winner at 1 1/16 miles this season at Oaklawn, including a Feb. 26 entry-level allowance score in his last start. Sandwiched around the victories was a seventh-place finish in the $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 29. The Southwest was Oaklawn’s second Kentucky Derby points race.
“This is real disappointing,” Puhich said. “He worked like a freak. Worked great. Just galloped around there, which is all we wanted to do.”
Call Me Jamal breezed under Geovanni Franco, who was scheduled to ride the gelding in the Arkansas Derby.
Finish Lines
Jockey Cristian Torres said he will be out indefinitely after suffering two hairline fractures (tailbone and right ankle) during a spill in last Sunday’s fifth race. Torres was unseated when his mount, Big On Broadway, jumped a shadow at the three-eighths pole, according to footnotes from the official race chart. “I’ll do my best to come back soon,” Torres said in a text message Monday. Torres, through Sunday, had 19 victories at the 2021-2022 meeting. … Millionaire Grade 1 winner Clairiere is on the grounds training in advance of the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles April 23 for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. … Storm the Court, an Eclipse Award winner as the country’s champion 2-year-old male of 2019, is the 3-1 program favorite for Saturday’s 11th race, an allowance sprint for older horses. The Southern California-based Storm the Court finished sixth in the second division of the $500,000 Arkansas Derby (G1) in 2020. … The major spring objective for Ignitis, runner-up in a March 25 allowance sprint, remains the $500,000 Pat Day Mile (G2) for 3-year-old May 7 at Churchill Downs, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Tuesday morning.
Oaklawn Barn Notes by Robert Yates
Photo credit: Coady Photography
