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High Fly has three victories from four starts this season
(Joseph DiOrio/Horsephotos.com) |
Due to a weekend forecast that includes severe storms and unseasonably cold
temperatures, trainer Nick Zito elected to work HIGH FLY (Atticus) and NOBLE
CAUSEWAY (Giant’s Causeway), the 1-2 finishers of the Florida Derby (G1), on
Friday.
Each horse was credited by Churchill Downs clockers with five-furlong drills,
although the recorded times were slow. The pair came onto the track together
around 6:45 a.m. (EDT), but worked separately. High Fly, with Maxine Correa up,
breezed five furlongs in 1:06 3/5, while Noble Causeway, ridden by Carlos
Correa, was clocked in 1:04 3/5.
Both horses worked from the half-mile pole to the seven-eighths marker, which
is located midway around the first turn. Zito said the clockers may have been
confused. His stopwatch caught them in considerably faster splits and he was
happy with their workouts.
“The main thing is, regardless of what times they got, both horses went
super,” Zito said. “I loved the way both horses went around that (first) turn.
High Fly scooted around that turn. Noble Causeway looked great. They both looked
super and that’s all we could ask for. We’ll do some serious work next week.”
The horses breezed over a track that was still listed as “fast” before rain
moved in later in the morning.
“When they started talking about rain on Sunday, too, and hail, and this and
that and everything, I said let’s not fool with Mother Nature,” Zito added. “Let’s just go a
day earlier. It’s either a day earlier or a day late, and we got them both in
and they went well.”
GREELEY’S GALAXY (Mr. Greeley), who rolled to a 9 1/2-length victory in the
Illinois Derby (G2) in his last start, breezed six furlongs under the Twin
Spires on Friday in preparation for a possible start in the Kentucky Derby (G1).
The chestnut covered the distance in 1:16 4/5 beneath exercise rider Mikki
Fincher. The colt began the move at the three-quarter pole and was timed in
fractions of :13 3/5, :26 2/5, :38 4/5, :51 2/5 and 1:04 1/5. He galloped out
seven furlongs in 1:32 2/5 while light rain fell on the track.
“He felt fabulous,” Fincher said. “He’s a happy, fresh horse, likes to train,
and hits the ground really good.”
Greeley’s Galaxy is not nominated to the Triple Crown. Owner B. Wayne Hughes
plans to make the colt a supplemental nominee to the Derby for a fee of
$200,000, but the colt could still be excluded from the Run for the Roses if
20 or more horses are entered in the 1 1/4-mile classic.
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