Enigmatic stallion Pressday will attempt to get his career back on track at the Santa Anita meeting that kicks off on Boxing Day.

Earlier this year, Pressday was purchased as a stud prospect by Eliza Park for 2012 but spring plans were derailed when he bled after the G2 Sebring Sprint at Rosehill in September.

Pressday (4h Domesday – Kaaptive Empress by Kaaptive Edition) transferred to California based trainer John Sadler instead of serving an automatic three month ban in Australia.  “Pressday is a real nice horse and we’re very excited about him,” Sadler said on Saturday.  “We should be able to run him in the first month or two of the meet.”

Sadler won the 2009 and 2010 Santa Anita titles but was denied a hat-trick by Bob Baffert earlier this year.

Sadler has also taken over the preparation of Pathfork (Distorted Humor) who was a G1 winner of the 2010 National Stakes at the Curragh.  Like Pressday, he didn’t train on this year and was last seen finishing 26 lengths behind Frankel in the G1 English 2000 Guineas.

Pressday was a G1 winner of the 2010 T J Smith Stakes at the Brisbane winter carnival and he returned to claim the G2 Sandown Guineas in November.

But trainer Chris Waller was at a loss to explain his five unplaced runs this year.  “It’s a shame,” Waller said after the Sebring Sprint.  “He was obviously very impressive as a two-year-old but…we might not get to see what he can do as a mature horse.”

Pressday was sent to the United States in a last-ditch plan to resuscitate his reputation as a stallion prospect.  Eliza Park syndicated him into 50 shares before the spring carnival but the value of those shares would have slumped after the Sebring Sprint.

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