A last-out allowance winner at Oaklawn Park, Call Me Jamal will be forced to miss a scheduled start in Saturday's Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby. Trainer Mike Puhich told the Daily Racing Form the 3-year-old son of Malibu Moon had appeared to suffer an injury in his final work.
“He tweaked something,” Puhich told DRF. “He's never had a hiccup before.”
Bred in Kentucky by Machmer Hall, Call Me Jamal is out of the graded stakes-placed Thunder Gulch mare Jaramar Rain. Puhich selected the gelding at the Keeneland September Yearling sale for $70,000.
Call Me Jamal is named after Seattle Seahawks All-Pro safety Jamal Adams, and is owned by prominent Pacific Northwest heart surgeon Mark DeDomenico.
Call Me Jamal placed fourth in his first two starts, both at Churchill Downs in November around one turn. He showed grit to break his maiden in a two-turn maiden special weight at Oaklawn Park in December, winning by a head, before finishing a disappointing seventh in the G3 Southwest Stakes.
Puhich dropped Call me Jamal back to allowance company, and he responded with a 2 1/4-length victory. The conditioner had considered running Call Me Jamal in the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds Feb. 26 before opting for the 1 1/16-mile undercard race. Call Me Jamal ran the distance over a fast track in 1:45.45. The winning time for the Rebel approximately two hours later – the surface was transitioning from fast to sloppy because of rain – was 1:45.69. Ethereal Road, who finished third behind Call Me Jamal Dec. 18, returned to break his maiden Jan. 29 and run second, beaten a half-length, in the Rebel for D. Wayne Lukas.
Read more at the Daily Racing Form.
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