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Astrology drills for potential Preakness tilt; The Factor set to work Iroquois S. (G3) winner ASTROLOGY (A.P. Indy) worked six furlongs in company in 1:12 2/5 early Monday morning over a fast track at Churchill Downs. The Steve Asmussen trainee is among the 13 new shooters under consideration for the May 21 Preakness S. (G1), which has a maximum field size of 14. With Carlos Rosas up and working in company with older Grade 3 winner Awesome Act (Awesome Again), Astrology posted fractions of :13, :25, :37, :48 3/5 and 1:00 2/5, and he galloped out seven furlongs in 1:25 2/5 and a mile in 1:39 3/5. "We liked the work," said Barbara Banke of Stonestreet Stables. "We'll see how he comes out of the work (before making a decision on the Preakness). He looks good."
In other Preakness news: Multiple Grade 2-placed SWAY AWAY (Afleet Alex), who was excluded from the Derby as the 21st horse on the graded earnings list, walked the shedrow at Churchill's Barn 42 for a second consecutive morning following a six-furlong work in 1:11 3/5 under Keith Davis on Saturday. Trained by Jeff Bonde, the fourth-place finisher in the Arkansas Derby is scheduled to return to the track Tuesday morning and ship next week with the rest of the Churchill Downs-housed Preakness hopefuls to Baltimore.
"He has run well in every start of his life and is an improving colt. He has a pedigree that suggests he'll get better as he matures. We think he is a nice horse." Pletcher said that Dance City will breeze again on Sunday at Churchill Downs and will be on the flight of horses from Kentucky headed to Baltimore on May 18. The Pletcher barn may be sending three or four other horses for other Preakness Week stakes according to Mike McCarthy, Pletcher's Churchill Downs assistant. PRIME CUT (Bernstein), runner-up in the Lexington (G3) at Keeneland in his most recent start, remains "under consideration" for the Preakness according to trainer Neil Howard. "We will wait until after his major work (toward the end of the week) and see," said Howard, who won the 1990 Preakness with Summer Squall. Prime Cut galloped before the renovation break at Churchill on Monday.
"I think we got to the bottom of him. That work took a lot out of him," Grove said. "When I started training for Mr. Harris (longtime client William Harris), our wisdom was that while we did not have the most well-bred horses, we wanted to have the fittest horses." Grove plans to work the colt again on Friday morning at Pimlico. The respective top two finishers from Saturday's Federico Tesio S. at Pimlico, CONCEALED IDENTITY (Smarty Jones) and RULER ON ICE (Roman Ruler), are both being considered for the Preakness. Concealed Identity walked Monday for the veteran Maryland-based trainer Eddie Gaudet, who has never saddled a starter in the Preakness. "He came out of the Tesio very, very good," Gaudet said. "If it isn't too crowded of a field and I get in, we might go. I don't want to cave his head in. I don't mind if there are a few tough ones in the Preakness but I don't want to kill his confidence. I don't know what he can't handle but he just drew off on them Saturday and every day he just gets better." Kelly Breen, the trainer of Ruler on Ice, was noncommittal. "I would like to see how he came out of the Tesio and see him train before deciding our interest in the Preakness and whether we are worthy," Breen said of the colt, who was previously third in the Sunland Derby (G3). Rounding out the possible new shooters are MR. COMMONS (Artie Schiller), the third-place finisher in the Santa Anita Derby (G1), and two trained by the New York-based Doodnauth Shivmangal, HARLAN'S HELLO (Harlan's Holiday) and ISN'T HE PERFECT (Pleasantly Perfect). SARATOGA RED (Eddington), sixth in an optional claimer on the Derby undercard, has been withdrawn from Preakness consideration by trainer D. Wayne Lukas. "I am taking some over there for the undercard races, but not him," Lukas said.
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