Betterthancheddar to miss Lexington with abscess

Trainer Casie Coleman told harnessracing.com Thursday morning that Betterthancheddar, who won the Quillen Memorial Sept. 17 at Harrington Raceway in a world record-equaling 1:49.2, has developed a foot abscess and will not race in the Oct. 7 Allerage Farm at The Red Mile.

"He got an abscess in his left front foot and it's doing much, much, better, and I believe he'll be ready for the Breeders Crown (in late October at Woodbine),” said Coleman. "We just have to get that foot under control and get him right for the Breeders Crown. I really wanted to come to Lexington with him but no way could I push him enough to get him ready.”

Currently ranked third in the weekly Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown Top 10 poll, Betterthancheddar has nine wins and two seconds in 11 starts this year, with earnings of nearly $800,000. Besides his world-record effort on Harrington's half-mile oval, the 4-year-old son of Bettor's Delight also equaled the world record for a five-eighths track with a 1:48 victory in the $500,000 Ben Franklin at Harrah's Philadelphia.

"I was really looking forward to racing in Lexington because we were looking to try and do some sort of a speed mark on him on that track,” said Coleman. "It was one of the biggest races I was looking forward to with him, but things happen and we have to deal with what we're dealt.”

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