Maximus Mischief Injured, Off Derby Trail

[Wandering Eyes]

Cash is King and LC Racing’s graded stakes-winning ‘TDN Rising Star’ Maximus Mischief (Into Mischief) has been injured and taken off the GI Kentucky Derby trail, Cash is King principal Chuck Zacney confirmed to TDN Tuesday. The previously undefeated Butch Reid trainee was coming off a third-place run as the favorite in the GII Holy Bull S. Feb. 2 at Gulfstream (video). The story was first reported by Blood-Horse.

“He was having a workout Sunday morning at around 8 a.m., Jose Ortiz was up and about halfway through, he didn’t feel right and kind of slowed down,” Zacney said. “We discussed it with Butch and brought a vet in. At this point, it’s a soft tissue issue, and we’re taking a couple of days to try to figure things out. We should have a better idea by Monday.”

Bought for $340,000 as a 2-year-old in training after breezing a furlong in :10 1/5 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic, Maximus Mischief debuted an 8 1/2-length winner last September at Parx and earned his ‘Rising Star’ badge with a similarly facile allowance score there Oct. 20. He passed the acid test with a front-running success in the GII Remsen S. Dec. 1 at Aqueduct, but flattened out some after chasing a quick pace in the Holy Bull.

“We were disappointed in the Holy Bull, but after a couple of days he bounced back to where he was before,” Zacney said. “All the reports I was receiving were good, so I was calling the Holy Bull a mulligan and we were moving forward towards the Derby, but we’re unfortunately in kind of a holding pattern now.”

Zacney and Cash is King burst onto the scene in 2005 with GI Preakness S. and GI Belmont S. hero Afleet Alex (Northern Afleet), who came within a length of the Triple Crown by finishing third in the Derby. Cash is King has been a mid-Atlantic staple since then, but has yet to return to the Run for the Roses.

“Thinking back to the Afleet Alex days, he was really our first horse and we didn’t know any better,” Zacney said. “Fast forward 10-15 years and we’re kind of realizing now how difficult it is to get back there.”

Fortunately for Zacney, he has something major to look forward to this weekend that will likely soften the blow of Maximus Mischief’s misfortune. Along with Len Green’s D. J. Stable, he owns reigning Champion 2-Year-Old Filly and GI Breeders’ Juvenile Fillies heroine Jaywalk (Cross Traffic), who is set to make her sophomore debut in Saturday’s GII Davona Dale S. at Gulfstream. The John Servis pupil completed preparations for her return with an easy half-mile breeze in :50.55 (22/31) Sunday at Palm Meadows.

“The Greens and I are very, very excited,” he said. “We are getting nothing but positive reports from John and she’s training really well. I’m driving down for the race, then am going to head up to Ocala to watch a couple of our 2-year-olds. We’re very, very lucky to have a filly like that and as excited as I am, I’m thrilled to death for the Greens.”

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