Team Valor International’s Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom had his first
workout on the comeback trail for trainer Graham Motion on Saturday morning,
turning three furlongs over the main dirt track at the Fair Hill training center
near Elkton, Maryland.
Exercising in company, Animal Kingdom breezed in 38 seconds on the one-mile oval.
“It was like an open gallop for him,” the English-born Motion said from his
training base. “The track was in great shape today. He went in company just to
keep his mind on business. I thought he handled it well.”
The chestnut colt has as his initial goal in 2012 the March 31 renewal of the
$10-million World Cup in Dubai. Motion plans to give the son of Leroidesanimaux
a prep, either in Florida in February or a bit later at Meydan race course in
Dubai.
“It’s all up to the colt and how quickly he gets himself into shape,” Motion
said. “He is a big horse and he grew during his layoff. Ideally, I’d like to be
able to run him in a race like the (Grade 1) Gulfstream Park (Turf) Handicap on
February 11, but if he fails to make that race, we always have the option of
sending him over to Dubai early and giving him a race over there.”
Motion is undecided about when he will transfer Animal Kingdom to Palm
Meadows training center near Boynton Beach, Florida.
“The weather has been holding up well and he likes it here,” Motion said. “I
wouldn’t mind breezing him here a few more times, as long as the dirt and Tapeta
stay as good as they are right now.”
Animal Kingdom won the Kentucky Derby, finished second in the Preakness
Stakes and was injured at the start of the Belmont Stakes in a chain-reaction
bumping incident that lead to a suspension for the rider that initiated it.
The strapping Kentucky-bred underwent surgery to stabilize a non-displaced
hairline fracture of a hind leg.