Workout Report 5/2

[robfla]

ANY GIVEN SATURDAY/CIRCULAR QUAY/COWTOWN CAT/SCAT DADDY/SAM P.

Trainer Todd Pletcher was back on the Churchill scene running his precision operation out of Barn 34 at “The Downs” on a warm and slightly muggy Louisville Wednesday morning.

The 39-year-old Texan was right on it early, sending four of his five Kentucky Derby colts trackside in his first set at 6 a.m. With their regular exercise riders at the controls, Any Given Saturday (Martin Mendoza up), Circular Quay (Tony Tamburino), Cowtown Cat (Loren Robson) and Sam P. (Horacio DePaz) stretched their legs over the big oval.

Sam P. jogged a mile, while the other three toured the strip a mile and three-eighths worth. Notably – with the exception of Cowtown Cat – all have raced at Churchill Downs previously.

At 6:30, Pletcher sent out his second flight of exercisers, which included the Florida Derby winner Scat Daddy. The good-looking Johannesburg colt, who finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill last fall, had regular exercise guy Mendoza aboard for a one-mile jog.

The three-time Eclipse Award winning trainer also had his Kentucky Oaks trio – Cotton Blossom, Octave and Rags to Riches – out for exercise Wednesday following his stable’s “ship-over” from Keeneland racetrack Tuesday afternoon.
Pletcher noted that his five Derby candidates would paddock Wednesday afternoon, coming over with the horses for the day’s fifth race.

BWANA BULL

The Jerry Hollendorfer-trained Bwana Bull returned to the Churchill Downs track Wednesday morning after walking the shedrow Tuesday. Bwana Bull jogged a mile and a half under exercise rider Joe Hernandez.
“He’s really feeling good,” said assistant trainer Galen May. “When I brought him in, he tried to chase me out of his stall.”
May reported that Hollendorfer will be at Churchill Downs Thursday morning.
Javier Castellano has the mount aboard the El Camino Real Derby (GIII) winner.

CURLIN/ZANJERO

It was back to work Wednesday for trainer Steve Asmussen’s Derby 133 contingent, two days after turning in their final major Kentucky Derby workouts.

“We gave Zanjero a walk through the paddock and jogged a little bit,” Asmussen said. “We did a little less with him than Curlin. Curlin went off the right way and galloped a mile and a quarter. For both horses, it was their first day back to the track.”

Asmussen indicated that Tuesday’s paddock schooling session during the live races went smoothly for Curlin and Zanjero.

“They’re both very professional,” he commented. “We will school them again on Thursday, in front of a little bit more of a crowd. I very much expect them to accept the situation fine.”

In addition to Monday’s schooling session, Tuesday’s afternoon racing action provided a little levity around the barn during the big week. Asmussen and his assistant, Scott Blasi, both owned horses competing against each other in the eighth race. Blasi’s Golden Hare (second) out-finished Asmussen’s WW Conquistador (third), settling a fun bout of trash talking on the track.

“There might have been a little trash talking,” Asmussen joked. “It’s horse racing; that’s what the game was built on.”

On a more serious note, the nation’s leading trainer by wins, who conditions a stable of some 211 runners stabled at five tracks, was effusive in his praise for possible Derby favorite Curlin, saying, “He’s what they bought,” in reference to whether Curlin was what his owners expected when shelling out seven figures-plus on Super Bowl Sunday.

“Disadvantages will be aplenty for horses in this race,” he said. “I do not believe the three races, or not running as a 2-year-old, will be any excuse. Mentally and physically, I think he has every bit as much chance as Zanjero does, and he has an extremely normal form and approach to the race.”
And does training such a prominent Derby contender bring more pressure to the trainer?

“You don’t run for them,” Asmussen said. “As far as pressure, I think there are expectations. But it comes from you. You’d rather run the fast one. Pressure, I would think, is running one who isn’t fast enough … I’m excited just to witness the horse, much less be fortunate enough to be able to train him.”

Asmussen said Curlin’s Arkansas Derby “raised the hair on my arms” when he ran the final sixteenth of a mile as the trainer watched from his vantage point on the track apron at Oaklawn.

“Curlin, and the curiosity about him, is very understandable – how good can he be? I think the horses that you can immediately compare him to, the ones I’ve seen recently, would be Point Given and Barbaro – very big, talented horses. It worked out for one, it didn’t for the other. That’s the scenario we’re faced with.”

Curlin will be ridden by Robby Albarado in Derby 133, fitting for the Asmussen stable. It was Albarado who guided Asmussen’s first Grade I stakes winner when Dreams Galore won the 1999 Mother Goose at Belmont. Zanjero reunites with Shaun Bridgmohan, who has twice won aboard him and was last fall’s leading rider at Churchill Downs.

DOMINICAN/SEDGEFIELD

The Silverton Hill colorbearers were both out on the racetrack Wednesday, with Dominican jogging and galloping after the break, and Sedgefield schooling in the gate and jogging earlier in the morning.

Trainer Darrin Miller was aboard Sedgefield, who went out before the break.
“He schooled in the gate, and then he jogged two miles,” Miller said. “He’s doing well.”

Sedgefield had his final Derby breeze on Monday morning, going a half-mile in :48.40.

Dominican, who put up the bullet work Sunday when the gelded son of El Corredor breezed five furlongs in :59.40, got to stretch his legs a bit Wednesday. With exercise rider Willie Herrera aboard, Dominican jogged a mile, and then quickened his pace to gallop a mile and a quarter over the fast main track. The gelding is coming off a nose victory over Street Sense in the Blue Grass Stakes (GI).

“He has a handy way of going,” Miller said. “He skips over the ground, and that’s what helps him if he has to start and stop and start again, like he did in the Blue Grass.”

Sedgefield will be the first Derby mount for Julien Leparoux, the 23-year-old native of Senlis, France, who won the Eclipse Award last year as the nation’s outstanding apprentice. Rafael Bejarano, who will be riding in his third Derby, has the mount on Dominican.

Tommy Hamilton, who owns Silverton Hill Farm in Springfield, Ky., with his wife Bonnie, was on hand at the barn Wednesday morning, soaking up the pre-Derby atmosphere.

“It’s very humbling to have two horses in the Derby,” Hamilton said. “We’ve had success right from the start in this business, but this is just the greatest thing. We’re having a great time and enjoying the Derby experience,” he said.

“I do what Penny Chenery (owner of Secretariat) said: ‘Celebrate the night before.’ That’s what we’re doing.”

Hamilton said Dominican was named for the order of priests and nuns who operate the parish and school in Springfield.

“We wanted to name him St. Dominic, the name of the school my kids attended,” Hamilton said. “But the name was taken, so we decided on Dominican.”

Sedgefield is named for a quail plantation in Alabama, where Hamilton has competed in bird dog field trials.

GREAT HUNTER/LIQUIDITY

Trainer Doug O’Neill continues to be pleased with the progress of the two colts he will saddle in the Kentucky Derby since they arrived at Churchill Downs on Sunday afternoon.

On Wednesday morning, Great Hunter went to the track after the renovation break and was followed by Liquidity. With exercise rider Tony Romero aboard, each colt schooled in the paddock, jogged three-quarters of a mile and galloped 1 1/2 miles. Both colts will be ridden by jockeys with Derby experience: Corey Nakatani will be aboard Great Hunter in his 13th Kentucky Derby, and David Flores will ride Liqudity in his ninth Kentucky Derby.


HARD SPUN

Two days after his very quick Derby prep, Hard Spun continued to look the picture of health and happiness Wednesday.

With trainer Larry Jones aboard, the son of Danzig schooled in the paddock for 10 minutes, and then went on the track to gallop a mile and three-eighths.

“He was well-behaved in the paddock,” Jones said. “Then we went out on the track, and he took me a little by surprise. I forgot how well he gets over the dirt track. He wasn’t out of control in the gallop, and he sat on the bit for me, but when I went to pull him up, I had to convince him to slow down.”

Jones had been training Hard Spun at Keeneland for two weeks before they returned to Churchill Downs, and worked the colt a mile in 1:42.40 on Polytrack on April 23.

Jockey Mario Pino was aboard Monday morning when Hard Spun flew five furlongs in :57.60, the fastest Derby Week work since General Assembly drilled five furlongs in :57.40 in 1979.

Today was the first time Jones was aboard for a gallop since they returned to Churchill.

“During the winter, I trained him at Fair Hill (Md.), where they have both a synthetic track and a dirt track,” Jones said. “He trained fine over the synthetic, but he liked the dirt track a whole lot more. Today he reminded me how much he likes the dirt.”

Hard Spun, owned by Fox Hill Farms, is coming off a 3¼-length victory over Sedgefield in the Lane’s End Stakes (GII) on Turfway Park’s Polytrack. Before that, he had finished fourth in the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park, where Jones said he did not like the racing surface.

NOBIZ LIKE SHOBIZ

Elizabeth Valando’s Nobiz Like Shobiz galloped a mile and a half under Derek Sturniolo at Belmont Park Wednesday morning before being shipped to Louisville in the afternoon.

“He’s leaving at 1:30,” said Tagg, who was also scheduled to fly to Louisville Wednesday.

Cornelio Velasquez will ride the Wood Memorial (GI) winner in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.