Pleasant Prince - excuses?

[AeWingnut]

Trainer Wesley Ward said Ken and Sarah Ramsey's PLEASANT PRINCE (Indy King), seventh in the Blue Grass, came out of the race well.

"He is perfect this morning. We scoped him after the race yesterday and he scoped clean," Ward said.

"He had worked so well last Sunday when it was cool, and I think if the Blue Grass had been run the day before, he would have handled the track better. The sun was out, the girls were in their sundresses and it was great for everybody, but not my horse. He just didn't get hold of the track like he did in his work Sunday (five furlongs in :58 2/5)."

Pleasant Prince picked up $3,750 on Saturday from the Blue Grass to increase his graded stakes earnings to $166,250, good for only 29th on the list of horses considering a Kentucky Derby run. The top 20 horses in graded stakes earnings entered earn a spot in the starting gate.

"We gave it a shot yesterday to get the earnings," Ward said. "We are going to train like we are going to the Derby, but we are in trouble. (Jockey) Julien (Leparoux) told Mr. Ramsey after the race to just throw it out because he didn't handle the track.

"We will probably go on to the Preakness ([G1] at Pimlico on May 15). We will get Julien (Leparoux) to breeze him here a couple of times."