Two-time Eclipse Award Finalist Palace Malice had his first timed work in nearly six months, breezing a quarter mile on January 22nd in Aiken, South Carolina.
The future Three Chimneys stallion, runner-up for the Eclipse in 2014 and 2013, worked a quarter mile last Thursday in :24 and galloped out three-eighths in :36 3/5 over the Aiken training track. This was Palace Malice’s first recorded work since returning to training in mid-November, following a 2 1/2-month layoff at Three Chimneys Farm.
“He worked great,” said Cot Campbell, President of Dogwood Stables, which owns the colt with Three Chimneys. “He was a trifle slow getting into the work because he was surprised he was going to. He hadn’t done anything like that in five or six months and he couldn’t believe the message he was getting. But it was an excellent work; he came back fine and we’re going to do it again next week depending on the weather.”
A six-time Graded stakes winner of $2.6 million, Palace Malice was edged out for the older male championship at the January 17th Eclipse Awards ceremony, earning 103 votes compared with the winner’s 127. Palace Malice won his first four starts in 2014, all Graded stakes, including the Met Mile (G1). As a 3-year-old, he won the Belmont S. (G1). He has compiled a record of 17-7-4-1 and $2,676,135 to date.
The leading money-winner by Horse of the Year Curlin, Palace Malice was originally retired from racing in September, but subsequent veterinary exams pronounced him sound and fully recovered from a bone bruise.
His connections have charted an ambitious five-race campaign this year, beginning in May: the Westchester S. (G3), Met Mile (G1), Whitney H. (G1), Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1), and Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). He will race in the name of Three Chimneys Farm/Dogwood Stable. Palace Malice will once again be based in the shedrow of seven-time Eclipse Award winner Todd Pletcher.
