Repole Stable’s Stay Thirsty, one of two contenders for the Grade 1 Kentucky
Derby trained by Todd Pletcher, worked a strong five furlongs in a steady rain
on Sunday at Churchill Downs.
Three-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Calvin Borel, who is not yet
committed to a Derby mount, was in the saddle aboard Stay Thirsty for the move.
Pletcher and Borel teamed to win last year’s Run for the Roses with WinStar
Farm’s homebred Super Saver, giving Pletcher his first Kentucky Derby win.
A son of 2006 Grade 1 Preakness winner Bernardini, Stay Thirsty worked in
company with older workmate Bridgetown. The pair drilled over the sloppy going
in a bullet 1:00, tying for the best of 19 moves at the distance.
Stay Thirsty will attempt to rebound in the Kentucky Derby from a
disappointing seventh-place finish in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby on
April 3 won by Dialed In. He opened his three-year-old campaign prior to that
with a win in the Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct.
The persistent rain of the past few days had tapered off to a few sprinkles
during morning training at the historic track, but the skies opened again only
minutes before Stay Thirsty stepped on the track just after the maintenance
break. The first 15 minutes of training after the break are reserved for
Kentucky Derby and Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks contenders, through May 5.
Stay Thirsty and Borel worked along the rail, and Bridgetown, a four-year-old
sprinter expected to run in the Grade 3 Twin Spires Turf Sprint on Kentucky
Derby Day, was poised to the outside. The two zipped over the sloppy going in
splits of :11 3/5, :23, :35 1/5 and :47 3/5. Stay Thirsty stuck his neck in
front near the finish line and galloped out six furlongs in 1:15.
“I thought he breezed really well,” Pletcher said. “The time was solid and he
got over the off going well. He finished up with a good last quarter and
galloped out strongly. So overall I was really pleased.”
“We leaned on him a little bit this morning. I told Calvin we wanted a good,
solid work and I think we got that. So we’ll see how he responds to that this
week, and we might have a similar a similar-type work next week.”
“He worked good,” Borel said. “I was doing Todd a favor — I’m not on the
horse. That’s what he wanted, so that’s what I gave him.”
There was ample water on the track surface thanks to the steady rain that
fell during the work, but Borel said the wet surface was not an issue for him or
Stay Thirsty.
“I’m not much of a fan of the lightning, but other than that I thought the
track was good,” he said. “This track gets better when it rains. I love it when
it rains here — it tightens it up and gets it good. You can’t fault the track.”
Pletcher was pressed after the work as to whether Borel’s presence in the
saddle for Sunday’s move might have been a dress rehearsal for a ride aboard
Repole’s colt in the Kentucky Derby. Ramon Dominguez was aboard Stay Thirsty for
his win in the Gotham and his disappointing run in the Florida Derby, and Borel
does not yet have a firm mount for Derby 137 despite his unprecedented run of
success over the past four years.
“We haven’t really talked about it,” Pletcher said. “We asked him if he was
available to work the horse and he said yes, he’d love to. I haven’t had a
chance to really talk with Mike Repole about it that much. But I’d say it’s a
possibility, but we haven’t done anything yet.”
Borel maintained his was simply doing a favor for Pletcher and expressed
confidence that he’ll find a way to stay occupied on Derby Day at Churchill
Downs.
“I’ll ride something,” Borel said. “This is how it goes — that’s horse
racing. We’ll find one.”
Also turning in an Easter Sunday work was Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and
Dream Team One Racing Stable’s Mucho Macho Man. The Kathy Ritvo trainee got his
first serious taste of Churchill Downs on Sunday morning, working seven furlongs
in 1:29 1/5 over a sloppy track under jockey Rajiv Maragh.
Working by himself after the renovation break at the outset of the special
training period for Kentucky Derby and Oaks hopefuls, Mucho Macho Man clicked
off fractions of :13 3/5, :26 2/5, :39, :51 3/5, 1:04 and 1:16 3/5 and galloped
out a mile in 1:43 4/5.
“He worked good and I was very happy with it and Rajiv also seemed to be,”
Ritvo said.
A steady rain fell most of the morning but then picked up with much
enthusiasm shortly before Mucho Macho Man’s work. Ritvo went on with the work as
planned.
“I think it is supposed to rain the next few days, so I decided to go,” said
Ritvo, who never has started a horse at Churchill Downs. “I wanted to keep as
close to our schedule as possible. He will come back and work again Saturday or
Sunday.”
Mucho Macho Man, the winner of the Grade 2 Risen Star this season, was most
recently third in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby.