O’Neill happy with I’ll Have Another’s exercise; Five Sixteen works

O’Neill happy with I’ll Have Another’s exercise; Five
Sixteen works

I’ll Have Another plans to move into the Belmont Stakes barn on Monday, along with his “Coach” Lava Man (Harold Roth/Horsephotos.com) With Belmont Park’s vast oval practically to himself, Triple Crown hopeful I’ll Have Another had his customary 1 1/2-mile jog and gallop Friday morning as trainer Doug O’Neill continued to express pleasure with the way the colt is coming into the $1 million Belmont Stakes on June 9. Along with several other contenders for the 1 1/2-mile “Test of the Champion,” I’ll Have Another went to the track at 8:30 a.m. (EDT) during a special 15-minute slot reserved for Belmont Stakes hopefuls. Coming on shortly thereafter Paynter, Atigun, Unstoppable U, Five Sixteen and Guyana Star Dweeb, followed by Dullahan and Street Life. “He went great,” said trainer Doug O’Neill of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, who is bidding to become racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner and first in 34 years. “I’ll Have Another ate up everything last night, his legs are looking great and he’s got great energy. I loved the way he trained out there. He’s maintained his beautiful stride.” O’Neill said he was delighted to have a portion of the morning set aside for Belmont candidates, a decision which was promoted when a loose horse came close to colliding with I’ll Have Another on Thursday morning.

“Awesome,” he said. “That was so cool. We got a chance to see a couple of the
other Belmont hopefuls as well. They looked great out there. It was a great
experience and I really appreciate Mr. (P.J.) Campo and the rest of The New York
Racing (Association) people for letting us have 15 minutes of safe environment.”

O’Neill added that after speaking with the stewards, he hopes to be able to
move I’ll Have Another and his stable pony, Lava Man, into the Belmont Stakes
barn Monday after training. All Belmont Stakes contenders are required to be in
the barn by noon on Wednesday.

“They’re letting us have Lava Man there, which is great,” O’Neill said. “The
(horses) are used to being with their buddies. To be in a barn all by yourself …
even though he could handle it, but to have Lava Man in there, that will be
cool. That’s his little buddy.”

O’Neill’s Friday press conference can be viewed

here.

Five Sixteen turned in his final pre-Belmont Stakes breeze on Friday, posting
a 1:00 4/5 five-furlong move in company with stablemate Live for Today.

“It was good,” said Dominick Schettino, who trains Five Sixteen for MeB
Racing Stables. “He did everything we asked.”

Schettino added that Five Sixteen will have schooling sessions in the
starting gate and paddock prior to the Belmont Stakes. The colt is 1-1-1 in six
starts and enters the race off a fourth in an April 18 allowance at Aqueduct.

In other Belmont Stakes news:

Connections of the other Belmont Stakes contenders revealed their training
plans for the next few days, with the majority of the field to breeze on
Saturday or Sunday.

Dullahan will almost certainly breeze at 8:30 Saturday morning, regardless of
the weather or track condition, said Dale Romans. It will be Javier Castellano’s
first time aboard the Kentucky Derby third-place finisher.

The connections of Street Life, Atigun, and Unstoppable U said their colts
are tentatively scheduled to breeze Saturday, pending track condition.

Although Belmont is now restricting track access from 8:30-8:40 to Belmont
Stakes contenders, Street Life is scheduled to go out at 8:45 a.m. Cherie DeVaux,
assistant to trainer Chad Brown, said the colt trains better when there is ample
activity on the track. Should they postpone the breeze, the colt will gallop
either on the main track or training track on Saturday and breeze on the main
track Sunday.

Ken McPeek trainees Atigun and Unstoppable U are set to breeze separately at
8:30 on Saturday, but their workouts could be pushed back to Sunday if there’s
moisture on the main track, according to assistant trainer Lars Becdelamotte.
Should the workouts be pushed back to Sunday, Julien Leparoux, who is riding at
Woodbine on Saturday, will be aboard Atigun. If not, a to-be-determined exercise
rider will have the assignment on Saturday. Junior Alvarado will ride
Unstoppable U for his workout on Saturday or Sunday.

Union Rags will breeze at Fair Hill in Maryland on Saturday or Sunday, with
trainer Michael Matz saying the latter was the more likely option. Jockey John
Velazquez will make the trek south for the move.

Paynter will breeze Sunday or Monday, according to Jim Barnes, assistant to
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

Guyana Star Dweej could on Wednesday or Thursday have one final breeze prior
to the Belmont, his trainer, Doodnauth Shivmangal, said earlier this week.

Optimizer, who breezed five furlongs in 1:00 3/5 Thursday at Churchill Downs,
is scheduled to arrive at Belmont Park on Tuesday, according to his Hall of Fame
trainer, D. Wayne Lukas.

Bet the Belmont Stakes at TwinSpires.com