According to the official Churchill Downs Barn Notes for May 21st, trainer D. Wayne Lukas has announced that his talented three-year-old colt Mr. Z will be receiving a break of 30-40 days following his fifth-place finish in the May 16th Preakness Stakes (gr. I) at Pimlico, which was the colt’s sixth start of the year.
Lukas also explained that Mr. Z was troubled by the track at Pimlico, which was turned to slop by torrential rains a few minutes before post time: “He wears blinkers and he got in behind that horse [American Pharoah] and caught a lot of mud and everything in those blinkers,” Lukas said. “That was not a true indication on how he runs, that mud and wearing full cup blinkers really compromised him.”
Mr. Z has made fourteen starts dating back to last June, with twelve of them coming in graded stakes company. His best performances to date include runner-up efforts in the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (gr. I) and Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes (gr. III), as well as third-place finishes in the Los Alamitos Futurity (gr. I) and Arkansas Derby (gr. I).
