While the connections of Withers winner Uncle Heavy were discussing a few options for the 3-year-old’s next start, the decision was basically made for them due to a confirmed case of equine herpesvirus at Belmont Park. Thus, Uncle Heavy, who will have to spend at least the next three weeks away from his base at Parx Racing, will be aimed at the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 6 at Aqueduct. Due to the confirmed case of equine herpesvirus at Belmont Park – where the majority of horses who race at Aqueduct are based – some other tracks on the East Coast are not permitting horses who are based at Belmont or who raced at Aqueduct over the weekend to race or return to their facilities for 21 days. That is the time frame that Barn 15 at Belmont has been placed under quarantine by the New York State Gaming Commission and the New York Racing Association. One of the horses who raced in the Withers, Society Man, had been stabled in the same barn where the suspected and eventually confirmed case of EHV was found in the 3-year-old filly Cute Curls. Society Man was permitted to run in the Withers because he had already shipped from Belmont before the EHV case was diagnosed. Uncle Heavy on Saturday night was sent to a farm about 20 minutes from Parx, his trainer, Butch Reid, said. There is no track there, but there is a jogging machine, and Uncle Heavy can get some turnout time in a paddock, Reid said. As far as serious training goes, Uncle Heavy would have to go elsewhere, including potentially Belmont Park. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. “We were thinking do we have one start or two starts before the Derby? This little three-week quarantine situation confirms the Wood more than likely will be his next start,” Reid said Monday. Reid said he wasn’t planning to do much with Uncle Heavy this week, and he does not plan to breeze the horse within the next three weeks, so not being based at the track might not hinder him. “I have some other training facilities I can use. I’ve been invited back to Belmont,” Reid said. “I don’t see it being a big issue. We can get him moving around. As long as it stays three weeks, I think we’ll be okay. If it drags out any longer then we might have to call an audible.” Uncle Heavy, a Pennsylvania-bred son of Social Inclusion, is now 3 for 4 with two wins around two turns. He has 20 qualifying points toward the May 4 Kentucky Derby and has a 1 1/8-mile race under his belt. “That’s the reason we were there [Saturday], the mile and an eighth. I thought the quicker we got there the better we’ll be with this horse,” Reid said. “I don’t think there’s any limit to how far he wants to go. Basically, he came back pretty fresh yesterday. He drank a half a bucket of water and cooled out in very fine shape.” Uncle Heavy earned an 84 Beyer Speed Figure for his Withers victory. Though Uncle Heavy won’t run in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham on March 2, Reid will still be represented in that one-turn-mile race with Maximus Meridius. A son of Maximus Mischief, Maximus Meridius has won 2 of 3 starts, including an allowance race by 3 1/2 lengths on Jan. 30. His lone loss came Dec. 26 at Parx, when he finished third to Frankie’s Empire in an allowance. That result looks a little better when one considers Frankie’s Empire won Saturday’s $125,000 Swale Stakes at Gulfstream Park. “That raced proved to be a little tougher than I thought it was,” Reid said. “He did mess it up a little bit looking around at horses, that’s why I went ahead and put the blinkers on him. I usually don’t go to the blinkers that fast, though in this case we gave it a go and it really helped him.” El Grande O to stay on trail El Grande O, beaten a nose by Uncle Heavy in the Withers, will keep on the Kentucky Derby trail with a possible start in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham on March 2 next for the New York-bred, trainer Linda Rice said. “Obviously, we have the Gotham and the Wood in front of us, it’s too soon to tell what direction we go there,” Rice said Sunday. “I could see us using the Gotham and if things go well come back in the Wood. One day at time.” El Grande O was part of the early pace in the Withers, put away the other speed and just got caught by Uncle Heavy on the wire. While she called the result “a heartbreaker” Rice said jockey Kendrick Carmouche told her it was a better performance than in the Jerome, in which El Grande O finished second to Drum Roll Please. That race came following a 10-week break. “Kendrick thought he was a much better horse yesterday than he was in the Jerome so he’s coming in the right direction off that break,” Rice said. Hot Fudge to Barbara Fritchie Hot Fudge, who ran her winning streak to four with a victory in the Interborough Stakes on Jan. 27, will be pointed to the Grade 3, $200,000 Barbara Fritchie Stakes at Laurel Park on Feb. 17, Rice said Sunday. “Seven [furlongs] is good for her and it’s a graded race,” Rice said about the reasons for choosing the Fritchie. NYRA’s next two stakes in the filly and mare division are next Saturday’s $150,000 Heavenly Prize going one mile and the $100,000 Correction going six furlongs on March 9. Hot Fudge has won 7 of 12 career starts and is 3 for 3 at seven furlongs. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.