On September 5, Dogwood Stable announced that Palace Malice was being retired due to a bone bruise.  It was an injury that would require him being turned out for a while to heal: so even though the veterinary prognosis suggested he could recover well enough to race at full strength at age five, he would miss the rest of this year.

Today, there is a tiny glimmer of hope that Palace Malice may race at five after all.

Today it was announced via press release that Dogwood had sold a half-interest in Palace Malice to Three Chimneys.  Under the terms of the sale, if a panel of veterinarians examines him on November 15 and finds him to be racing sound to the satisfaction of both Dogwood and Three Chimneys, he will ship to Aiken and start preparing for a five-year-old campaign.  If he runs, he will stay in the Dogwood silks, and run in the names of both Dogwood and Three Chimneys until he retires.  If they do not find him sound enough to enter training as of November 15, he will go directly to stud for next year.  Either way, after he finishes racing, he will by fully owned by Three Chimneys and stand stud there alongside horses like Will Take charge, Exchange Rate, Yes It’s True, Sky Mesa, and Big Brown.

I am trying to contain my excitement about the prospect of him racing again, but it’s a difficult task.  Although I tried to put it into words as best as I could, even weeks after the original announcement it still did not seem real that Palace Malice was not going to be racing again.  With this hope that he might?  I want to believe it.  I want to believe that he will be fit as a fiddle come mid-November, and hear the wonderful news that he is going back into training.  I want to see him run again, and enjoy new races in which he is fast, tough, and game.

Still, if it turns out that he isn’t ready to run again?  It will be worse the second time.  Even though there will be the next two months to brace myself for the news, there will be that grating cycle of “what if” and letdown.

In short?  I want to be excited about the return of Palace Malice, but my heart and my head are in massive disagreement.  My heart is like Palace Malice with the blinkers, speeding away with excitement…whereas my head is trying to stick with a more patient, blinkers-off response.