[Kasept]

LEADING 3-YEAR-OLD ECLIPSE CANDIDATE SUMMER BIRD DRILLS FIVE FURLONGS; DESORMEAUX FLYS IN FROM NEW YORK FOR DRILL; TRAINER ICE “SUPER HAPPY”

Belmont, Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Summer Bird, the leading candidate for an Eclipse Award in the male 3-year-old division, worked five furlongs in 1:00.45 under regular rider Kent Desormeaux Sunday after Oak Tree’s second race. The chestnut son of Birdstone came on the main track at the head of the quarter mile chute, back-tracked to the half mile pole and then jogged and galloped through the stretch and around the Club House turn.

Desormeaux set him down to breeze approaching the five furlong pole and he guided him through splits of 24.42 and 48.56. Summer Bird galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.03 as he continues to prepare for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at 1 1/4 miles on Nov. 7.

“The work was great,” trainer Tim Ice said after Summer Bird’s drill. “This was exactly what we wanted. He looked super getting over the track and he’s been getting over it very well ever since we got here. Kent had a ton of horse under him and he just let him work on his own, within himself. I’m super-happy with how he’s trained here and how he’s handled everything. We’ll walk tomorrow and he’ll go back to the track Tuesday morning.”

Ice said that Summer Bird would have one more breeze prior to the Breeders’ Cup. “He’ll work five eighths next Saturday,” he said. Desormeaux, who experienced a 3-hour airport runway delay in New York, flew in earlier in the day for the work. With his son Jacob in tow, Desormeaux simply stated, “He enjoyed it and he galloped out super.”