Retirement Likely For Sorrento Winner Amalfi Sunrise
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Amalfi Sunrise wins the Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar
Amalfi Sunrise, one of the top 2-year-old fillies on the West Coast, is likely to be retired after a month-long bout of pneumonia, trainer Simon Callaghan said Sept. 28.
A runaway winner of each of her two starts, Amalfi Sunrise won her debut June 23 at Santa Anita Park by 6 1/4 lengths before scoring by six lengths Aug. 3 in the Sorrento Stakes (G2) at Del Mar. Initially kept out of the Aug. 31 Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) with a minor hind-leg injury, she was sent to San Luis Equine Hospital in Bonsall, Calif., in late August with pneumonia.
Callaghan anticipates she will be released next week but fears her prolonged sickness would hamper a successful return to racing. "When they get it really bad for a long period of time, like she did, they get adhesions and (lung) scarring, and often after those things, they don't come back as good," the trainer said.
A daughter of Constitution out of the Empire Maker mare Soot Z, Amalfi Sunrise is owned by Doug Branham and Marsha Naify. She was purchased by agent Ben McElroy for $185,000 from Bobby Dodd's consignment at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. She was bred in Kentucky by Jack Mandato.
Even without Amalfi Sunrise as a Breeders' Cup hopeful, Callaghan aims to have starters in the Breeders' Cup Nov. 1-2 at Santa Anita. Multiple grade 1 winner Bellafina, fourth in the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion Stakes (G1), is a candidate for the seven-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) Nov. 2, and Mind Out could run in the Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) Nov. 1, pending her performance in the Oct. 6 Surfer Girl Stakes going a mile on grass at Santa Anita.
Callaghan unveiled another budding stakes performer Saturday at Santa Anita when Donna Veloce won by 9 1/4 lengths in her debut, blitzing 6 1/2 furlongs on a fast track under Flavien Prat in 1:16.22. A 2-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo , she was an $800,000 purchase by owner Kaleem Shah from The Gulfstream Sale, Fasig-Tipton's premier sale of 2-year-olds in training, from the consignment of Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds.