Three Clark
H. (G2) hopefuls put in half-mile moves on Sunday, gearing up for their runs in
Friday’s $400,000 test going 1 1/8 miles at Churchill Downs.
Stronach Stables’ EINSTEIN (Brz) (Spend a Buck) covered four furlongs in :48
3/5 over Churchill’s fast main track as he readies for his first start since
running 11th in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita.. The Helen Pitts-Blasi
trainee was caught galloping out five furlongs in 1:01 under Kelly Likes
Pitts-Blasi was actually talking to a passer-by about her stable star on
Sunday when fellow trainer Dallas Stewart rode past on his pony.
“Tell it like it is, Helen,” Stewart said with a laugh. “Tell him how you’re
gonna kick Macho Again’s rear end.”
“Hey, Macho’s already got me once this year,” Pitts-Blasi said referring to
Macho Again’s victory over Einstein in June’s Stephen Foster H. (G1).
The rematch comes Friday when Einstein and MACHO AGAIN (Macho Uno) are expected to be the
starting highweights in the 135th running of the Clark. Einstein hasn’t won
since defending his title in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (G1) in early
May, and recorded the worst finish of his 29-race career in the Breeders’ Cup
Classic last out.
“I have no answer,” Pitts-Blasi said of the Breeders’ Cup. “We couldn’t find
anything. He went very well this morning and I was pleased.”
Pitts-Blasi has worked Einstein in the past, but opted for Likes on Sunday.
“I wanted to take some weight off him and Kelly is lighter than I am and I
could watch him,” Pitts-Blasi said.
Regular rider Julien Leparoux will miss the final two days of the meet to
ride in the Japan Cup (Jpn-G1) and Pitts-Blasi has enlisted New York-based Rajiv Maragh
to ride Einstein in the Clark.
Also working in advance of Friday’s race, Edmund Gann’s regally-bred four-year-old colt YOU AND I FOREVER (A.P. Indy)
drilled a bullet half-mile in :48 at Calder for trainer Marty
Wolfson as he prepares for his trip to Kentucky.
“He flies on Monday,” Wolfson said. “It’s a tough spot, but he’s doing well
and is two-for-three over the track there. Jose Valdivia Jr. will ride him.”
You and I Forever’s time was the co-fastest of 46 recorded at the distance
over Calder’s fast dirt.
The Kentucky homebred is out of multiple Grade 1 queen You (You and I), an
earner of more than $2.1 million for Gann and trainer Bobby Frankel. The mare’s
racing highlights include a nose victory over Carson Hallow in the memorable
2002 renewal of the Test S. (G1) at Saratoga after You got off to a poor start
and overcame more trouble in the race. She would rack up eight graded victories
during her career, five of which were Grade 1 scores.
You and I Forever began his career with conditioner Bill Mott, scoring
back-to-back victories at Churchill during the 2008 spring meet when he broke
his maiden and won a 1 1/16-mile allowance race. He would go on to finish a game
second in the Jerome H. (G2) at Belmont Park and complete his three-year-old
campaign with a sixth in the Pegasus S. (G3) at Meadowlands in October.
You and I Forever re-surfaced at Calder this summer with Wolfson as trainer
and won an allowance race by five lengths on July 3. In three appearances since
then, he was third as the favorite in another Calder allowance, shipped to
Monmouth Park to be second in the Philip H. Iselin H. (G3) in August and ran
fourth last out in the Hawthorne Gold Cup (G2) over a muddy track on October 3.
Rounding out the Clark worktab, multiple Grade 2 hero ANAK NAKAL (Victory
Gallop) covered a half-mile in :50 2/5 over Aqueduct’s fast track on Sunday. The
four-year-old returned from a six-month layoff for new trainer Rick Dutrow last
out, finishing third in the Meadowlands Cup (G2).