Somebeachsomewhere scratched sick from Matron

Brent MacGrath said Monday morning that after discovering Somebeachsomewhere had spiked a fever early Saturday that had come down somewhat the following day, he decided in the best interests of the 3-year-old colt pacer to scratch him from Monday night’s Matron eliminations at Dover Downs. MacGrath told harnessracing.com that when the world champion colt gets healthy he will take him to Hanover Shoe Farms in Pennsylvania where he will stand stallion duty in 2009.

“I treated him and the fever came down Saturday and I was hoping it’d stay down, but it didn’t,” said MacGrath, who shares ownership of the son of Mach Three as part of the Schooner Stables of Nova Scotia. “The Banamine only lasted 18 hours. I could treat him with that 48 hours out and still have raced him.”

Although the Matron was originally not in MacGrath’s plans for Somebeachsomewhere, he decided to go to Dover Downs following the sophomore’s impressive Breeders Crown victory Nov. 29 at the Meadowlands. He admitted that if there were any silver lining in The Beach coming up sick that it wasn’t one week earlier.

“It would have been a terrible thing if we had to miss the Breeders Crown,” said MacGrath. “The year has been fantastic and unbelievable. How he stayed as healthy as he did and go the miles, and accomplish the things he did, it’s hard to believe he didn’t run into more of this stuff along the way; most horses do.

“He had a great week here,” continued MacGrath, who has been training Somebeachsomewhere at Mark Ford’s training center near Goshen, N.Y. “I had no intentions of racing him but when he came out of Toronto like he did, if he races at the Meadowlands like he did at Toronto, we’d go to Dover.

“This was probably one of the best weeks he’s had. It was bad timing; if it was two or three days earlier we likely would have been OK. Last night he wasn’t 100 percent and I clearly wasn’t going to race him if he wasn’t 100 percent. I wouldn’t do that to him.”

Somebeachsomewhere broke Gallo Blue Chip’s single-season earnings mark with his Breeders Crown victory, bringing his 2008 bankroll to $2,448,003. He was within $5,000 of surpassing Nihilator’s two-year earnings mark of $3,225,653.

MacGrath added that he was sending out a prepared release which read in part: “Our decision to race Beach in the Matron was based on the strong performance at the Meadowlands. The way he finished the mile and the way he came out of the race, he was sharp and bouncing the stall the next morning and feeling strong. We decided to add the start in the Matron before sending him to Hanover Shoe Farms. However, plans change. Beach is not feeling 100 percent and we need to listen.

“It would not be in Beach’s best interest to race him when he is not at his best. We were looking forward to Dover to have Beach race on a five-eighths mile track and give Canadian and American fans one more opportunity to see him race. But right now we are doing what is best for Beach. Our plan is to stay at Mark Ford’s training center until Beach is ready to travel. Hopefully in a couple of days. Then (my wife) Rhonda and I will head to Hanover Shoe Farms to deliver Beach to his new home. Then on to Nova Scotia. It will be a day of mixed emotions. It will be hard to say goodbye but it will be good to get home.”

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