Trainer Larry Jones had said he did not expect FRIESAN FIRE (A.P. Indy) to
He was right. Louisiana Derby (G2) star Friesan Fire worked five furlongs in
“A fifth of a second off,” Jones said, adding with a laugh, “that’s good,
Working immediately after the renovation break over a fast track, Friesan
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“I was very happy with it,” Jones said. “Gabe said he thought he went in
about a minute. If I could have written the perfect script, I would have had him
gallop out in 1:12, but he has been watching those tents every day (on the
backside) and I wanted to put the blinkers on to keep him more focused.”
Jones, whose horses have run second in the past two editions of the Kentucky
Derby, was asked if he felt the Derby gods might smile on him this year.
“I feel blessed to have run in the past two Kentucky Derbys and have horses
run well,” Jones said referring to Hard Spun and Eight Belles. “If the gods want
to smile on me, I’m gonna grin from ear to ear.”
Jones said Friesan Fire would walk Tuesday, jog Wednesday and then gallop up
to Derby 135.
“Wednesday is going to be an easy day,” Jones said. “He may go to the paddock
and the gate and walk around and see some folks. We’re fine (after this work);
he wasn’t blowing at all when he came back.”
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer made a beeline from Barn 42 to the clocker’s stand
As the work began to unfold on the backstretch near the five-eighths pole, a
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“We both saw the horses down,” Smith said afterward. “Luckily, it happened
over by the outer rail. He (Chocolate Candy) just looked that way for a second,
but he turned back and kept on going. We both were able to focus and complete
what we had to do.”
A slightly shaken Hollendorfer was happy to have the work and the incident
behind him.
“We were lucky we got to finish the work,” he said heading back to the barn.
“So many things can happen. It is worrisome.
“I had told Mike ‘Just like Santa Anita’ (a reference to a :59 1/5 work
turned in by the pair at the California track on April 12). He hit it right on.
Now I think my horse has a chance to run well here. He can handle this track and
now we know he can run well here. Handling the track is key and he’s show us he
can.”
Smith had little doubt about that subject.
“Sure, he’ll handle this track,” the rider said. “He’ll handle anything. He’s
a nice colt. His work today felt just like the one at Santa Anita. He’s ready to
go.”
Baffert watched the work from the front side of the track and, as is his
Pioneerof the Nile cruised through fractions of :11 4/5, :23 4/5, :36 and :48
“He went really nice,” Baffert said. “There was a lot of wind. He left the
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Pioneerof the Nile has won all four of his starts on synthetic surfaces in
California since being moved to Baffert’s care late last year. The son of 2004
Kentucky Derby runner-up Empire Maker has trained well on dirt, but the Derby
will be his debut on dirt.
“He’s got a long stride as it is, but he really moves better over the dirt, I
think,” Baffert said. “His stride is just tremendous.”
Baffert was pleased with the way the colt performed in his final breeze
before the Derby.
“He did it pretty effortlessly,” Baffert said. “I think he wanted to go a
little faster; I wouldn’t let him. I was really happy with the work. I’m really
excited about the work.”
Steiner gave the Santa Anita Derby winner high marks, too.
“It was a comfortable, smooth move,” Steiner said. “He just kind of coasted
around there and we let him gallop out on his own. He felt perfect.”
Steiner, who has been a jockey for nearly 25 years, said he likes the way the
colt is approaching the race.
“Mentally, he’s focused, he’s confident, he’s calm,” Steiner said. “The way
you want a horse to act, he’s shown everything. He’s like a dream to gallop.
He’s very kind.
“I think the key at this point is being focused and confident. He’s handling
all the media and all that stuff around him. It doesn’t faze him. And
physically, he’s right on. With the combination of the two, now it’s up to
luck.”
Steiner said Pioneerof the Nile feels the same way to him on the dirt track
at Churchill Downs and the synthetic surfaces in California.
“You couldn’t ask a horse to be doing any better than this,” Steiner said.
Pletcher took up a post in the grandstand and oversaw the works, which began
Join in the Dance now moves up to the 20th spot on the graded earnings list,
“He’s an enthusiastic work horse, so it was good to see him settle and work
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Next from the Pletcher barn, just after 9 a.m., came two other Derby
candidates, Lexington S. (G2) winner ADVICE (Chapel Royal) and Sham S. (G3)
runner-up TAKE THE POINTS (Even the Score).
Advice went off first with exercise rider Kevin Willey up and covered four
furlongs in :47 1/5, then galloped out an extra furlong in 1:00. He is already
solidly “in” the Derby lineup based on graded earnings, should his connections
— the WinStar Farm crew of Bill Casner and Kenny Troutt — decide they’d like a
third horse in Derby 135. The Kentucky farm already has Hold Me Back (Giant’s
Causeway) and Mr. Hot Stuff (Tiznow) scheduled to run in the 10-furlong classic,
so the thought of wheeling Advice back in two weeks off his Lexington tally has
been debated.
“I got him (Advice) finishing up that work in :23 and one,” Pletcher said.
“It was a good move for him.”
Shortly after Advice took care of business, exercise rider Horacio De la Paz
had Take the Points ready to rumble five-eighths and he was joined once again by
the unstarted potential star (he’s by Storm Cat out of champion Serena’s Song)
Schramsberg, with Cordero on board. The pair had worked in company last week and
they went at it again with the unraced chestnut youngster starting out a length
or two in front as they went by the five-furlong marker.
Take the Points, who now sits in the 21st spot on the graded earnings list,
took dead aim on his workmate around the turn and by the time he’d gone by the
wire in 1:00 1/5, he was well clear and drawing out on the less-experienced
colt, who was given a final time of 1:01 3/5.
“I was happy to see the work by Take the Points,” Pletcher said. “He picked
up his workmate and went right on by. He looked good doing it.”
The trainer said decisions on who might — and might not — be entered in the
Derby on Wednesday morning would be made Tuesday. Possible jockey assignments
will be fixed then, too.
“We’ll see how they come out of these works tomorrow morning,” the trainer
said. “We’re happy with the overall activity today and it sets us up for lots of
possibilities.”
Lane’s End S. (G2) runner-up FLYING PRIVATE (Fusaichi Pegasus) worked four
furlongs in :47 2/5 for trainer D. Wayne Lukas after the renovation break .
Robby Albarado, who has the mount for Derby 135, was aboard for the move that
featured fractions of :23 4/5 for the quarter and :35 4/5 for three-eighths.
“He went well,” Albarado said. “It was just a maintenance work with company.
Wayne wanted to get a good finish and that’s what we got.”
“He looked good, went along nice and smooth,” trainer Mac Robertson said. “It
Robertson said he deliberately used his regular exercise rider, who weighs
“Coming into the Rebel (on March 14 at Oaklawn), Eli breezed him three times,
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“Then, coming into the Arkansas Derby ([G2] on April 11), I had the jockey up
in the breezes. It was just different for the horse. With Cliff up, he breezed a
half in :48 2/5, and then a bullet half in :48 flat just before the race. And
then, of course, he ran fourth in the race.
“So I just thought I’d go back to what worked for us earlier in the year, and
had Eli breeze him at Oaklawn last week (a half in :51.20) and then again today.
“We’ve done all we can do, and now he’s gonna belong in there, or he isn’t.”
MINE THAT BIRD (Birdstone), expected to be Canada’s first champion
two-year-old in the Kentucky Derby starting gate since Talkin Man in 1995,
drilled five furlongs in 1:02 under jockey Calvin Borel.
Mine That Bird was ponied to the five-eighths pole easily, broke off slowly
for Borel, and was asked to run through the lane at the trainer’s instructions.
Churchill Downs clockers caught the Chip Woolley trainee in splits of :13, :25
2/5, :37 2/5 and :49 4/5, and a six-furlong gallop-out time of 1:13 1/5.
“Things went super,” Woolley said afterward. “I’m really happy with my horse.
It’s pretty much exactly what I wanted — he started slower and finished up
super-strong. He came back to the barn really playing. That’s as good as you are
ever going to see him feeling. He’s not an animated horse.”
Mine That Bird will walk the shedrow Tuesday and “lope” up to the race the
rest of the week. Woolley said his gelding may school in the starting gate
Wednesday, but will not be schooling in the paddock during racing days this
week.
Monday’s exercise was delayed approximately 40 minutes because of an on-track
accident that temporarily forced the track’s closure. Woolley said Mine That
Bird was just about to be bandaged and ready to go out when the closure
announcement was made.
“Luckily we weren’t all the way ready at the time,” he said. “It’s
unfortunate for the horses and horsemen involved any time something like this
happens. We just had to be patient.”
It was a big morning for Borel, who also worked Kentucky Oaks favorite Rachel
Alexandra just moments before being hustled to the Woolley barn via golf cart to
partner with his Derby 135 mount.