by Phil Janack

Rags to Riches is back at Belmont Park and awaiting a third exam before a decision is made on how to proceed with the A.P. Indy filly who last raced on June 9 when she won the Belmont Stakes (G1).

Trainer Todd Pletcher said between races Friday afternoon at Saratoga Race Course that Rags to Riches is ”50-50” to make her next scheduled start in the Alabama Stakes (G1) on August 18 at Saratoga.

Lexington-based Paul Thorpe, D.V.M. attending veterinarian for owners Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, will review the results of previous tests and conduct his own exam on Saturday at Belmont.

Rags to Riches was pulled up shortly into a scheduled work on Sunday at Belmont. X-rays and an exam by Stephen Allday, D.V.M., were inconclusive, and she was sent to the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center.

“We've gotten all the results from the tests,” Pletcher said. “Dr. Thorpe is going to examine the filly himself and review all the information. Once we do that, if everything checks out, we're still possible for the Alabama. If he finds something he's not pleased with, then we'll regroup.

“I don't have a great understanding of it, but a lot of the tests are subject to how you read them. I know that there's nothing majorly wrong with her. We did enough tests before she left Belmont to know that.”

Pletcher is keeping the Alabama on the schedule if Rags to Riches gets a clean bill of health.

“Then it becomes a matter of how she trains and how much I can do with her between now and then,” he said. “Obviously, we've lost some time training and she's a bit off schedule.”

Phil Janack is an New York-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent