OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though the workout was not officially recorded because of foggy conditions on Sunday, Withers Stakes winner Talk to Me Jimmy had an important drill last Sunday at Belmont Park for the Wood Memorial.
According to trainer Rudy Rodriguez, Talk to Me Jimmy worked five furlongs and galloped out six furlongs. But since the workout was done with the Belmont Park training track at least partially covered in fog, it will not go down as an official workout.
Rodriguez said jockey Ruben Silvera was aboard for the move.
“We put two horses in front of him and let him come from behind and he did everything nice, beautiful,” Rodriguez said. “I clocked him in 47 [seconds] for what I could see and I was very happy. Ruben said he was very happy and he said he galloped out very good.”
Talk to Me Jimmy, a son of Modernist, won a New York-bred maiden race at Aqueduct on Nov. 9. He then had to miss a start in the Jerome Stakes on Jan. 3 because Rodriguez was serving a suspension from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, during which time horses under Rodriguez’s care could not breeze or race.
Talk to Me Jimmy came off a three-month layoff on Feb. 6 and won the Withers by 11 lengths. Rodriguez, speaking from the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s auction in Florida Thursday, said he planned to work Talk to Me Jimmy again this weekend.
“Hopefully, we don’t get a foggy track the next time,” Rodriguez said.
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