4/28/09
Last updated: 4/27/09 7:15 PM
Rachel Alexandra, Flying Spur hit the track for final Oaks
breeze
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Rachel Alexandra scorched around the track
(Ed Van Meter/Horsephotos.com) |
Everything was ready to roll and RACHEL ALEXANDRA (Medaglia d’Oro) was
preparing to break off for a half-mile work in advance of her tilt at Friday’s
Kentucky Oaks (G1) when the horn sounded signifying a loose horse on the track.
“Damn,” trainer Hal Wiggins muttered as he exited the clocker’s stand and
headed to the track to take his stable star back to Barn 30.
A training accident closed the track for nearly 30 minutes and during that
time Rachel Alexandra cooled her heels back in the barn.
“I just wanted to keep her walking because I was worried she might tie up,”
Wiggins said.
When the track reopened, Rachel Alexandra and jockey Calvin Borel returned to
the track and sizzled a half-mile in :46 2/5, the fastest move of 26 at the
distance over a track rated as fast on Monday morning.
Clockers caught Rachel Alexandra posting fractions of :11 3/5, :23 1/5 and
:34 4/5 before galloping out five furlongs in :58 2/5 and six furlongs in 1:10
3/5.
“I had her in :46 and 2, :58 and 4 and 1:12 and 3,” said Wiggins, who was
looking for a work in the 48-second range from the probable Kentucky Oaks
favorite.
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“I thought she went too fast, but Calvin swears she does that every time,”
Wiggins said. “That is what she did at Oaklawn Park before the Fantasy; she
worked in 47 and 3, but that’s just the way she is. I am glad to have one that
can go that fast.”
Rachel Alexandra, owned by L and M Partners, is scheduled for a walk day on
Tuesday and maybe Wednesday and then will gallop up to Friday’s race.
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Flying Spur will try to succeed where her dam Lakeway narrowly failed
(Ed Van Meter/Horsephotos.com) |
“At Oaklawn, I had postponed her work a day because the track was sloppy and
I walked her two days after the work and then galloped the day before the
Fantasy,” Wiggins said. “I’ll decide on Wednesday whether she’ll walk another
day or go to the track.”
Fellow Oaks contender FLYING SPUR (Giant’s Causeway) was also forced to delay
her final Oaks move on Monday. The Bill Mott trainee’s breeze was scheduled to
take place after the track reopened at 8:30 a.m. (EDT) right after the
renovation break, but was delayed when a loose horse ran into another horse in
the stretch.
Once the track reopened, Flying Spur worked four furlongs in :48 2/5 under
exercise rider Joanna Trout, and was timed in 1:01 4/5 galloping out another
furlong.
“It looked nice,” Mott said. “We had a long wait before we worked, but she
handled it well. It turned out OK. It was not a problem.”
Garrett Gomez has the Oaks riding assignment on Mike Rutherford’s filly.
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