East Avenue will attempt to bounce back from a deflating 3-year-old bow at the scene of his finest moment, Keeneland, where he starts April 5 in the Blue Grass Stakes.
Brendan Walsh, who trains East Avenue for his breeder, Godolphin, said the colt would start either in the Blue Grass or in the March 22 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds, where East Avenue has spent the winter and continues to train. And when East Avenue’s name wasn’t among the Louisiana Derby entries when the field was assembled this past Saturday, it became apparent that connections had chosen the Blue Grass.
At Keeneland last October, East Avenue posted a dazzling front-running score in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity, a performance that made him the 9-5 favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. In that race, East Avenue stumbled badly out of the gate, never came close to contention, and finished ninth. While that defeat came with a ready excuse, East Avenue had no apparent one Feb. 15 in the Risen Star at Fair Grounds, where he tracked pacesetting winner Magnitude for about seven furlongs before giving way badly on the far turn, clunking home 10th, beaten nearly 24 lengths.
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Walsh believed East Avenue, a son of Medaglia d’Oro, had gone into the Risen Star in good shape and could find nothing wrong with the horse coming out of it. East Avenue had his first work after the Risen Star on Feb. 27 and on Sunday breezed for the fourth time since his race when he worked five furlongs in company with the New Orleans Classic-bound 4-year-old San Siro. While there’s no public video of the workout, East Avenue was timed in a bullet 1:00.40 while San Siro got an official clocking of 1:02.
“We’ll go to Keeneland and try to put the best scenario in front of him that we can. We’ll see how it goes, but I’d be very encouraged with the way he’s working,” Walsh said.
East Avenue works this weekend at Fair Grounds, then ships to Keeneland, where he’ll breeze once in advance of the Blue Grass. Walsh said Tyler Gaffalione will retain the mount.
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