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Posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2008
Sunday’s assignment for the Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown was a one-mile jog with a pony over the muddy track at Churchill Downs. Regular rider Michelle Nevin was aboard the son of Boundary, who will continue his Triple Crown quest in Saturday’s $1 million Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course.
Since Big Brown’s Kentucky Derby victory, horse trainer Rick Dutrow has limited the colt’s exercise to jogging whenever the track has been wet. With only two weeks between the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, Dutrow is determined not to put any stress on the unbeaten colt.
Big Brown is scheduled to ship from Louisville to Pimlico on Wednesday.
Behindatthebar & Harlem Rocker
The Todd Pletcher-trained colts, Behindatthebar and Harlem Rocker, turned in nearly identical five-furlong works Sunday morning over the Belmont Park, home of the 2008 Belmont Stakes, training track.
Harlem Rocker, the Canadian-bred winner of the Withers, was a tad faster with a time of 1:00.10. It was the third-fastest of 32 works at the distance. Horse trainer Todd Pletcher described the workout as “dynamite,” but said that a decision on Harlem Rocker’s status for Saturday’s Preakness Stakes would not be made until Wednesday morning.
Harlem Rocker, owned by Magna Entertainment chairman Frank Stronach, is unbeaten in three career starts. He broke his maiden at Gulfstream Park on February 14, added an allowance victory on March 30 and won the Withers (G3) at Aqueduct on April 26.
Behindatthebar, the Lexington Stakes (G2) winner, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.13, the fourth-fastest at the distance in preparation for his scheduled start in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown at Pimlico.
In a five-race career, the son of Forest Wildcat, Behindatthebar, has a record of 3-1-0 and earnings of $277,100. His only off-the-board finish was a fifth in the El Camino Real Derby (G3) at Bay Meadows on March 8. Since then, he has won an allowance race at Santa Anita Park and came from well off the pace at Keeneland to win the Lexington by one length.
Giant Moon
Giant Moon galloped 1-3/8 miles Sunday morning at Belmont Park.
Horse trainer Richard Schosberg intends to put another breeze into the Giant’s Causeway colt at Belmont. He said the heavy rain expected on Sunday night and Monday will affect when and what he does with the colt.
Hey Byrn
Beatrice Oxenberg’s Hey Byrn galloped 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Peter Shelton at Calder Race Course Sunday morning. The Eddie Plesa-trained colt is scheduled to van from Miami Monday and is due to arrive at Pimlico Tuesday morning.
Hey Byrn most recently scored a 2 1/2-length triumph in the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park on April 12, but lacked the graded-stakes earnings to qualify for the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field.
The son of Put It Back has captured his first two races of the year before encountering considerable bumping at the start of the Florida Derby (G1) and finishing fourth behind subsequent Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown.
Jockey C.C. Lopez, who scored aboard the Florida-bred colt in the Holy Bull, is slated to return to the saddle for the Preakness.
Icabad Crane
The Federico Tesio Stakes winner Icabad Crane enjoyed a leisurely “hack” through the woods at Fair Hill Training Center Sunday morning.
“He had an easy day,” said horse trainer Graham Motion, whose Preakness Stakes hopeful had worked five furlongs on Friday.
Icabad Crane will continue to train at Fair Hill before vanning to Pimlico on Saturday morning.
Earle Mack’s New York-bred colt has won three of his four lifetime starts, including a stretch-running half-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile Tesio.”The Preakness was something we thought about right after the Tesio. He has a good race over the track,” Motion said. “He won the Tesio despite having some trouble, and the second-place finisher (Mint Lane) came back to finish second in the Peter Pan (on Saturday), which somewhat endorses the race.”
Jockey Jeremy Rose, who rode 2005 Preakness winner Afleet Alex, has the mount on Icabad Crane.
Kentucky Bear
Assistant trainer Sherri Wickett and exercise rider/groom Cassie Garcia had the stakes barn to themselves Sunday morning with the third-place finisher from the Blue Grass (G1) Kentucky Bear, who lacked sufficient earnings to make the Kentucky Derby field.
Kentucky Bear, a son of Mr. Greeley, is even more lightly raced than probable Preakness favorite Big Brown. The Blue Grass was only his third career start. Unraced at 2, Kentucky Bear won his debut at Gulfstream Park going a mile and then was a wide seventh in the Fountain of Youth (G2) before finishing third behind Monba on Keeneland’s Polytrack surface.
This will be the first Preakness mount for jockey Jamie Theriot, who finished third in the recent Keeneland rider standings.
Kentucky Bear was schooled in the paddock before Sunday’s first race.
Macho Again
Horse trainer Dallas Stewart reported that Macho Again walked the shedrow Sunday morning after breezing an easy half-mile (:50.80) at Churchill Downs Saturday. The Derby Trial victor is scheduled to accompany Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown on a flight from Louisville to BWI Airport Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s kind of messed up. The plane’s scheduled to land at 5:30, right in the middle of rush hour,” Stewart said.
Racecar Rhapsody
The Tale of the Cat colt, Racecar Rhapsody, who is trained by Ken McPeek, walked at Churchill Downs Sunday morning, the day after breezing five furlongs in 1:01.
Racecar Rhapsody will be ridden by jockey Robby Albarado, winner of the Preakness last year aboard Curlin. The Kentucky-bred colt finished fourth in the Lexington Stakes (G2), beaten two lengths, in his last start on April 19. The colt is one of the 11 challengers ready to line up against Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown.
Racecar Rhapsody will ship from Kentucky to Baltimore on Wednesday.
Riley Tucker
Horse trainer Bill Mott said the son of Harlan’s Holiday, Riley Tucker, would remain in New York until “Wednesday or Thursday” in hopes of getting a final work in during the next 48 hours.
“He’ll work at Belmont as soon as we get a good race track,” said Mott of Zayat Stable’s 3-year-old, who shows only one victory from seven starts, that coming in his debut last July. “It’s calling for rain Monday, so we’re hoping to get on the track Tuesday.”
Riley Tucker figures to be one of the longer shots on the board in the Preakness field, but he has been in the money in his last three starts. He was a close third in the Lexington (G2) on April 19 at Keeneland in his most recent outing.
Stevil
The son of Maria’s Mon, Stevil, galloped 1 1/2 miles at Churchill Downs Sunday morning under exercise rider Dylan Armstrong in preparation for a final scheduled blowout on Monday morning.
“He’ll work if the weather permits,” said horse trainer Nick Zito from Louisville, confirming a plan to ship to Pimlico on Tuesday. “Right now it’s raining and the conditions aren’t too good.”
Jockey John Velazquez will be aboard the Robert LaPenta-owned colt, who was fourth in the Blue Grass (G1) in his most recent outing. Velazquez will be the fifth different rider for Stevil, who hasn’t visited the winner’s circle in five starts since breaking his maiden in his first race last October at Belmont Park.
Tres Borrachos
The third-place finisher in the Arkansas Derby, Tres Borrachos, donned blinkers for the first time Sunday morning for a 1 1/2-mile gallop at Churchill Downs under exercise rider Andy Durnin.
“In his races, horses would come up to him and he’d back up a little and then come again,” said trainer Beau Greely, who is also part-owner of the son of Ecton Park with Phil Houchens and John Greely IV. “It looks like he was relaxed galloping today. He may have them on when he works Tuesday and then we’ll make a decision.”
Tres Borrachos has shown speed in several of his seven career starts, but has won only once against maidens. He was third in the El Camino Real Derby (G3) at Golden Gate Fields on March 8 and then finished nearly five lengths behind Gayego in the Arkansas Derby (G2) after dueling with the winner for nearly a mile.
Yankee Bravo
Horse trainer Paddy Gallagher reported that Yankee Bravo jogged twice around the track at Hollywood Park Sunday morning. The son of Yankee Gentleman, who was excluded from the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field due to a lack of graded-stakes earnings, will be making only his second start on a conventional dirt track in the Preakness.
After winning his first two starts on turf and capturing the California Derby over Golden Gate Field’s synthetic surface, Yankee Bravo closed to finish third behind Pyro in the Louisiana Derby (G2) over Fair Grounds‘ dirt track.
“I thought he ran a nice race in Louisiana in his first time on dirt,” said Gallagher, whose colt will be ridden by Alex Solis Saturday. “Alex said that he was climbing a little at first but that he leveled off and handled it fine.”
Yankee Bravo, who is scheduled to fly from Southern California to Baltimore on Wednesday morning, finished fourth behind Colonel John in the Santa Anita Derby in his most recent start.
Edited from www.preakness.com.
"Horses Work For Pimlico’s Preakness Stakes 2008" was posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2008 at 10:52 pm and is filed under Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Pimlico Track, Preakness Stakes, Race Tracks News, Stakes Races, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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