Holthus sends Pure Clan to Rood and Riddle

Last updated: 5/6/10 3:01 PM

Pure Clan’s only
off-the-board run came in the 2008 Breeders’ Cup

(Benoit Photos)

What was supposed to be a routine work day turned out to be anything but that
when Lewis Lakin’s star turf mare PURE CLAN (Pure Prize) demonstrated that she
wanted no part of a scheduled five-furlong work at Churchill Downs under regular
exercise rider Steve Schmelzel.

“She didn’t want to work,” trainer Bob Holthus said. “There is possibly
something wrong with her left front foot and we are going to try to get her in
today at Rood & Riddle (Clinic in Lexington, Kentucky).”

Pure Clan has not raced since finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly &
Mare Turf (G1) last November at Santa Anita.

“She bruised the bottom of her feet when she was turned out, just like last
year,” Holthus said. “Physically, she has filled out a lot.”

Holthus was plotting a 2010 campaign similar to that of 2009 when Pure Clan
began the year in the Mint Julep S. (G3) going 1 1/16 miles on the Matt Winn
Turf and concluded with a Breeders’ Cup run. She just missed by a neck in that
Mint Julep try, then captured the Modesty H. (G3) at Arlington Park in July. A
third in the Beverly D. S. (G1) and an easy win in the Flower Bowl Invitational
(G1) comprised the remainder of her four-year-old season prior to the
Breeders’ Cup.

“If she runs five times and as good as she did last year, I’ll be happy,”
said Holthus, who counts Pure Clan among the best horses he has trained in the
company with Proper Reality and Lawyer Ron.

In three seasons of racing, Pure Clan has compiled a record of 8-4-3 in 16
races with earnings of $1,987,498. In addition to her Flower Bowl and Modesty
scores, the chestnut also won the 2007 Golden Rod S. (G2) and Pocahontas S. (G3)
as well as the 2008 American Oaks Invitational (G1) and Regret S. (G3). She
placed in the 2008 runnings of the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and Garden City S. (G1).