APB: Uncle Benny Gearing Up at the Spa

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Uncle Benny (Declaration of War), last seen finishing a huge second in an ultra-key renewal of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Churchill Downs Nov. 2, is nearing a return to the races.

Last term's Futurity S. winner, owned by Beach Haven Thoroughbreds and trained by Jason Servis, breezed five furlongs in 1:03.23 (8/8) at Saratoga July 22. He was previously credited with a three-furlong breeze in :38.22 (19/41) downstate July 6.

“Uncle Benny is doing very well training up at Saratoga,” Beach Haven's Founding Partner Ara Aprahamian said. “We should expect him to have his first race within the next 30 days. We are encouraged with how fast he has come back since he started training-he had a slight injury following the Breeders' Cup. We expect him to have a successful remainder of 2019 and maybe even find his way back to the Breeders' Cup.

Aprahamian added, “He had edema–fluid buildup–in his ankle and we decided to give him time off to get back to 100%. We don't have a specific race picked out, but we're looking at races going 5 1/2 furlongs on turf–an allowance or a small stakes. Then we'll stretch him back out.”

A game front-running debut winner sprinting over the Monmouth dirt Aug. 24, the $185,000 FTSAUG graduate switched to grass with an eye-catching last-to-first win in Belmont's Futurity.

There was certainly no shortage of talent finishing behind him in the aforementioned Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, including: Somelikeithotbrown (Big Brown) (third), subsequent winner of the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway; War of Will (War Front) (fifth), hero of this year's GI Preakness S.; The Black Album (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) (eighth), winner of the Charlie Barley S.; Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) (ninth), victor of the G1 Investec Derby; and Henley's Joy (Kitten's Joy) (13th), winner of the GI Belmont Derby Invitational.

Uncle Benny is out of the unraced Storm Cat mare Celebrity Cat. His second dam is millionaire Starrer (Dynaformer). This is also the extended female family of MGISW Stellar Jayne (Wild Rush).