Max Player 'Alert and Comfortable' After Oaklawn Race

The owners of grade 1 winner and millionaire Max Player tweeted Feb. 26 that the 6-year-old was "alert and comfortable" Sunday morning after being pulled up in yesterday's third race at Oaklawn Park. According to the tweet, Max Player's connections are "waiting for a full diagnosis" and that the son of Honor Code would be "transferred to a clinic for further evaluation." Campaigned by Annestes Racing and George Hall, Max Player was making his first start in nearly eight months in Saturday's $106,000, 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claiming race. After an awkward crawl out of the gate, in which he gave up as many as a dozen lengths on the field in the opening strides, jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. pulled up the bay entering the first turn. The Equibase chart for the race noted Max Player "lost action." Max Player was then walked onto the horse ambulance and vanned back to his barn. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Max Player scored his biggest victories as a 4-year-old in 2021, landing the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) and Suburban Stakes (G1) before finishing unplaced in that year's Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). He raced only three times in 2022, failing to hit the board in each of those outings before being given time off. Max Player returned to the work tab in December and recorded eight official breezes, including a half-mile in :50 1/5 at Oaklawn Feb. 21, prior to Saturday's race.