CHURCHILL DOWNS
Wednesday, April 22
Weather: Cloudy
Temp. 65°
Track: FastLOUISVILLE, Ky. – Activity has definitely begun to pick up at Churchill Downs as more and more of the participants in the Kentucky Derby and Oaks arrive on a daily basis. All horses in both races are required to be on the grounds by 11 a.m. on Saturday.
The special Derby/Oaks training session on Wednesday was the busiest it’s been since put into play last week and became even a bit more special with a guest appearance by reigning Derby winner and Horse of the Year Sovereignty, who returned to the track for the first time since arriving locally following his second-place finish last Saturday in the Oaklawn Handicap.
Sovereignty was joined during the Derby/Oaks gathering by, among others, his younger stablemate Chief Wallabee, who went back to the track for his first time since his eye-catching work 48 hours earlier. The majority of the California-based Derby and Oaks players are also here, with this morning’s session marking the first local appearances for So Happy, Pavlovian, and Intrepido. The Puma, who made the long van ride up from Florida, arrived Tuesday but did not train this morning.
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Among the Derby contenders to have caught the eye over the last couple of mornings is Louisiana Derby winner Emerging Market, who has made a very favorable impression since shipping up from his winter base at Payson Park. He appears to have adapted nicely to the new surroundings and looked like a happy horse galloping around the local oval, ears up, each of the past two mornings.
One has to continue to be an early bird to watch trainer Brad Cox’s formidable Derby trio of Commandment, Further Ado, and Fulleffort go through their daily paces. Commandment and Fulleffort are among the first horses out on the track each morning at 5:15 a.m., while Further Ado takes his turn regularly in the second set, about 30 minutes later. He has been a handful coming out of his terrific drill last Friday, and was again under a tight hold galloping 1 3/8 miles under the lights Wednesday.
Trainer Mark Casse, likewise, sends his Derby/Oaks trio of Silent Tactic, Counting Stars, and Search Party out regularly well before dawn. Silent Tactic looked sharp galloping in blinkers this morning while Counting Stars has been a bundle of energy and made an extremely favorable impression the last two days. All three are scheduled to work Thursday.
Wednesday marked the first local appearances for top Oaks contenders Meaning and Bella Ballerina, while Always a Runner has joined her Chad Brown stablemate Emerging Market and has also made a couple of nice appearances since getting to town.
The lone worker during the Derby/Oaks session on Wednesday was Lovely Grey, who still needs plenty of help to draw into the Oaks lineup. She breezed four furlongs in 23.86, 48.44 while going easily before continuing out strongly into and around the clubhouse turn without need of any real urging to complete six panels in 1:13.61.
The big news on the Oaks front came in South Florida where trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. confirmed My Miss Mo, runner-up in both the Grade 2 Davona Dale and Gulfstream Park Oaks, as a definite starter following a big work of her own on Wednesday. Going solo with jockey Micah Husbands aboard, My Miss Mo breezed four furlongs in 25.02, 48.51 before continuing full of run on the gallop-out while well within herself, covering six furlongs in a strong 1:13.69 and kicking up a lot of dirt breezing over a very loose and dry racetrack.
“She had to work well to run in the Oaks and she definitely passed that test today,” Joseph said by phone minutes after the work. “She seems like a filly on the improve, which she’s obviously going to have to be to be a factor against this field. But off the work today, she definitely deserves that chance.”
Joseph said he remains undecided regarding a rider for his filly but that he was leaning toward Husbands at this point.
On Monday at Santa Anita, Potente earned his spot in the Derby by working six furlongs for trainer Bob Baffert at Santa Anita. He covered six furlongs in company with stablemate Cash Call in 1:13.78 before being sent hard to continue out a mile in 1:40.23.
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