At Oaklawn Park on Sunday, a quartet of three-year-olds posted works in
Archarcharch turned in what trainer Jinks Fires described as the colt’s best
“I’m very pleased with the work,” Fires said. “Jon was really happy with it
Archarcharch came onto the fast track during the busy rush after the
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“I sent him around both turns because I want him to get used to it and I
think some horses learn where the wire is,” Fires said. “They learn that when
the jockey pops up at the wire, they’re done. Then they start waiting for it.”
Moments earlier, Elite Alex set off on a more elaborate piece of track work
involving his regular jockey Calvin Borel and two pace-setting workmates. The
Tim Ritchey trainee settled three or four lengths behind two other Afleet Alex
sons, Alex’s Vision and Will’s Afleet.
Borel guided his mount through fractions of :24 and :47 3/5, clicking his
The colt easily caught the workmates in hand, then spurted away from them in
Will’s Afleet and Alex’s Vision were both credited with five-furlong times of
“That was very awesome,” Borel said. “He’s just hitting everything right.
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“He really reminds me of (2007 Kentucky Derby [G1] winner) Street Sense. I
think that’s why I love him so much. I wouldn’t trade places with anybody for
nothing right now.”
Ritchey is aware of Borel’s enthusiasm, and as the man who trained Afleet
Alex, he’s not completely afraid of the comparisons with some of the leading
stars of the last decade.
“Now, we’ll see if he can live up to the hype,” Ritchey said. “If things had
been different, he could be undefeated right now. He stumbled coming out of the
gate in his first race (here) and then had a bad trip (in the Southwest). That’s
just horse racing.”
Ritchey also said he gave no instructions to Borel about how to engage the
lead runners.
“I left all that up to him,” he said. “The first work he came up the rail.
The last work he went between. This time he went around them. We know he can do
all three now, and at least it wasn’t seven wide like his race.”
Bracketing those two workouts were the moves by the Donnie Von Hemel pair of
Von Hemel sent Alternation out under jockey Luis Quinonez at 7:30 a.m., and
Alternation was credited with the bullet five-furlong move of :59 4/5,
“It’s probably going to be a big field he sees next time,” Von Hemel said.
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Caleb’s Posse was part of Von Hemel’s second set after the break, and he was
a “little more relaxed” than his stablemate two hours earlier.
Razo started the drill slowly, with the first quarter in :25, and kept the
homebred largely under wraps until the wire. He was clocked going five furlongs
in 1:02 1/5, but Von Hemel and Razo were excited by the way he reacted past the
wire.
“Right at the wire, Eddie asked him to pick it up,” Von Hemel said. “He dug
right back in and was telling him he really wanted to go some more. That’s just
what we needed to see.”
“He was on the muscle,” Razo said. “He always works good, but today he just
felt more solid. He’s getting better every time. I think next time he’s going to
be really tough.”
In other Rebel news, trainer Bob Baffert told Daily Racing Form that
THE FACTOR (War Front) is now likely to ship in from Southern California for the
1 1/16-mile test, which would mark his two-turn debut.
“If he works well next week, and I’m happy with him, we’ll go to the Rebel,”
Baffert said Sunday. “If I’m not happy, we’ll go to the next one. That’s my
plan.”
A track record-setting winner of a six-furlong maiden at Santa Anita on
December 26, The Factor captured the seven-furlong San Vicente S. (G2) last time
out on February 20.
The highly-regarded gray returned to the worktab Saturday, scorching six
furlongs in a bullet 1:10 3/5 at Santa Anita. If The Factor doesn’t end up going
to Oaklawn for the Rebel, his alternative engagement is the March 27 Sunland
Park Derby (G3).