Grade 3 winner DENIS OF CORK (Harlan’s Holiday), who ran third in the 2008
Kentucky Derby (G1) and second in the Belmont S. (G1), has returned to the barn
of trainer David Carroll.
“He is back galloping,” Carroll said. “He got back about a month and a half
ago. We jogged him the first month and now he is galloping. We are delighted to
have him back.”
Owned by Mr. and Mrs. William K. Warren Jr., Denis of Cork went on the shelf
in the summer of 2008 when Carroll found the start of a hairline fracture in the
colt’s left hind ankle. Denis of Cork was turned out at a farm in Ocala,
Florida, and this January suffered an injury to his right front suspensory.
“It took us that long to get him back,” Carroll said. “We are just taking it
day to day and I can’t even tell you when he’ll breeze. We are just trying to
put a foundation back in him.”
When the Churchill fall meet ends on November 28, Carroll will take Denis of
Cork with the rest of his stables to New Orleans and the Fair Grounds meet.
Another standout for Carroll, the four-year-old filly ACOMA (Empire Maker),
may resurface in the $100,000 Cardinal H. (G3) going 1 1/8 miles November 21 on
the Matt Winn Turf Course. Heroine of the Mrs. Revere S. (G2) at last year’s
fall meet, Acoma had her perfect record at Kentucky tracks end in her most
recent start, a ninth-place finish in the First Lady S. (G1) at Keeneland on
October 10.
“She had trained well for the First Lady, but she caught soft turf and didn’t
run at all,” Carroll said of Acoma, who had won all six of her previous starts
in Kentucky. “We checked her over after that and she was fine, so hopefully we
can go in the Cardinal and finish the year on a positive note.”