By: Jim Dunleavy
The Monmouth Park board of stewards has suspended trainer Chloe Bradley for 45 days and fined her $1,500 for entering Lucy N Ethel in the Aug. 14 Blue Sparkler Stakes.
The stewards scratched Lucy N Ethel from the Blue Sparkler while they were in the process of determining whether Bradley was indeed her trainer.
“Our stewards looked into this very carefully and came to the conclusion she did not have control of the horse at that time,” said Frank Zanzuccki, executive director of the New Jersey Racing Commission.
Bradley had a hearing at Monmouth Park on Sept. 8. Her suspension is to run from Sunday, Oct. 2, through Tuesday, Nov. 15.
Lucy N Ethel made the first three starts of her career for trainer Ramon Preciado. She won a Pennsylvania-bred maiden race at Parx last November and a first-level allowance there in December. She was then shipped to Florida, where she won the Grade 3 Old Hat Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 2.
Lucy N Ethel had an ankle chip removed following the Old Hat. The Blue Sparkler would have been her first start since.
Bradley has worked for Preciado and temporarily took over the training of his horses in Florida last winter while he was serving a suspension.
Since being scratched from the Blue Sparkler, Lucy N Ethel has won the Grade 2 Prioress Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 4 with Bradley as her trainer.
Lucy N Ethel was bred and is owned by Steven Perry’s J A G Racing and James Stevenson’s Jettany Thoroughbred Corp. When Lucy N Ethel won the Prioress, Perry told Daily Racing Form that Bradley had been training the horse at Westhampton Farm in Mt. Holly, N.J., which has a five-eighths training track.
Lucy N Ethel apparently ships to Parx, where Preciado is stabled, for workouts. She worked there five times between July 20 and Aug. 28,
Lucy N Ethel is nominated to the Grade 2, $300,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap at Belmont Park on Saturday and is expected to be entered for the race Wednesday.
