Runaway Ghost Nearing Return to Racing

After a cannon bone fracture knocked him out of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), Joe Peacock's homebred 2018 Sunland Derby (G3) winner Runaway Ghost is ready to get back to racing.

But his trainer, Todd Fincher, is not going to show his cards just yet.

Knowing that any announced plans to run in an allowance race could scare away competition and cause a race not to fill, the New Mexico-based trainer is not disclosing detailed options for the 4-year-old Ghostzapper  colt.

"He's ready to run. We're just waiting for a spot to put him in," Fincher said. "His works got a little spread out because of weather, but he hasn't really missed any works, and he's had two pretty hard works the last two. We're really just waiting for a race.

"It's been nine months since he's run, so we're looking for the easiest spot possible. But in New Mexico, we wouldn't avoid a stakes race, either."

Runaway Ghost's last two timed works—five furlongs and six furlongs—have come at Sunland Park, and Fincher said the colt will get another this weekend. After surgery to repair his injury, which was discovered following a breeze in April, the Kentucky-bred got a long break and was turned out before he returned to training in early September, but Fincher said the colt hated the lack of activity.

BALAN: Runaway Ghost Injured, Will Miss Kentucky Derby

"He's very, very happy right now. There's no doubt about that, but that's the way he is," Fincher said. "The first two months (back in training) he was a little depressed. He wasn't happy at all jogging, and he wasn't happy turned out. But now he's fit and happy and healthy.

"It was boring, I guess, for him (being turned out). He's a horse who's got a heart and a lot of try in him, and for a horse that competitive, it just wore on him. There's no competition out there."

Runaway Ghost had the look of a live longshot for the Kentucky Derby off his 2 3/4-length score in the March 25 Sunland Derby—he traveled very wide throughout and still won impressively. Before his injury and his Sunland Derby victory, he won the Riley Allison Stakes and finished second in the Mine That Bird Derby, both at Sunland.

BALAN: Runaway Ghost Dominant in Sunland Derby Victory

While Fincher said there are no set-in-stone plans for Runaway Ghost, he's hopeful the bay colt will develop into a quality older horse.

"There's no (race) target," the trainer said. "We're going to do what he tells us to do. If he comes back the way he was and improves like an older horse should, we'll look for places to run around the country."