Santiva breezes five furlongs for probable Belmont start

Last updated: 5/28/11 3:06 PM

Santiva’s only career win came in the Kentucky Jockey Club last year
(Reed Palmer Photography/Churchill Downs)

Tom Walters’ probable Belmont S. (G1) starter SANTIVA (Giant’s
Causeway) worked five furlongs over a fast Churchill Downs track
Saturday morning in 1:00 3/5 under assistant trainer Brendan Walsh. It
was the co-fifth fastest of 43 works at the distance.

Santiva was the first horse on the track after the renovation break
and worked in company with Golden Gulch (Thunder Gulch). They went the
first three furlongs in :36 1/5 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:14
3/5.

Trainer Eddie Kenneally was very pleased with the work.

“He worked really, really well today,” Kenneally said. “He’s very
fit. He went the minute and three-fifths nicely and didn’t overexert
himself.”

The three-year-old bay broke his maiden last year in the Kentucky
Jockey Club S. (G2), one race after running second in the Breeders’
Futurity (G1). He returned this season to be second in the Risen Star S.
(G2) and ninth in the Blue Grass S. (G1), and last out finished sixth in
the Kentucky Derby (G1).

Santiva will be seeking just his second career win in the Belmont if he makes
the field, but Kenneally is hesitant to confirm his charge for the “Test of the
Champion” just yet.

“We are still playing it by ear in regards to the Belmont, but he will likely
end up in the race,” the conditioner said.

In other Belmont news:

Preakness S. (G1) hero and Kentucky Derby fourth SHACKLEFORD
(Forestry) will leave the Churchill Downs backstretch Sunday at 5 p.m. (EDT)
and be vanned to New York for a possible run in the Belmont on June 11.

Kentucky Derby runner-up and probable Belmont-starter NEHRO
(Mineshaft) will likely catch a “fast” track for his scheduled six-furlong
breeze early Monday morning at Churchill Downs. Since his Churchill Downs
arrival in mid-April after a second-place finish in the Arkansas Derby (G1),
Nehro has caught sloppy tracks for each of his breezes, which, like many of
trainer Steve Asmussen’s top runners, come on Mondays.