Frac Daddy thriving at Churchill

Frac Daddy is a different horse since returning to Kentucky, according to jockey Victor Lebron (Cecilia Gustavsson/Horsephotos.com) Magic City Thoroughbred Partners' Frac Daddy and Charles Fipke's Java's War came to the track together at 8:30 a.m. (EDT) during the Kentucky Derby and Oaks session at Churchill Downs Monday morning. Arkansas Derby runner-up Frac Daddy galloped with regular exercise rider Hugo Garcia up, while Blue Grass Stakes winner Java's War jogged two miles under Marvin Abrego. "Java is kind of a lighter-framed colt so we gave him an easier day," said Phil Bauer, assistant to trainer Ken McPeek. "We're thrilled with the way they came out of their works. They have plenty of energy so we're on to tomorrow." Frac Daddy will be ridden Saturday by Victor Lebron, a native of St. Croix, Virgin Islands, making his first appearance in a Kentucky Derby. The 28-year-old began galloping horses on his father's farm at age 14 and first dreamed of becoming a professional jockey after watching the Derby on television. "It's a privilege to ride in the Derby," Lebron said. "Not every rider gets the opportunity to ride in it and I feel honored, especially for Kenny to give me a shot. It's a dream come true; everybody dreams about it but not many get to do it."

Lebron has been getting on Frac Daddy since the week before the Arkansas

Derby and has kept a close watch on the Scat Daddy colt's progress, stopping by

to see him every day regardless of whether he's scheduled to exercise him.

"Since Oaklawn, looking at him, he's filled out and body-wise he's gotten

bigger," Lebron said. "He's gotten a lot stronger, way stronger. He's been a way

different horse since landing here. He got way stronger than what he was over

there. He's just been getting tougher and tougher."

Frac Daddy has a stubborn side to him. This morning, he refused to be

escorted from the track after his gallop, repeatedly turning his head out of the

pony rider's reach each time she stretched out to grab his halter.

"Usually he's like that," Lebron said. "He's high-spirited. He's real active

about everything. Sometimes he can get a little hot because he's always doing

something. He's on the go-go-go, all the time. But that's just him --

high-spirited."

With Monday's news of the defection of Winning Cause, Todd Pletcher now will

start five horses in Saturday's classic. The trainer will match his five-horse

feat of 2007, while equaling the five-horse entries saddled by Hall of Famers

Nick Zito in 2005 and D. Wayne Lukas in 1996.

Two of Pletcher's other Derby horses stretched their legs following the break

with gallops around the Churchill oval. Blue Grass Stakes runner-up Palace

Malice and the Blue Grass third, Charming Kitten, both went strongly on the fast

surface as they continued their preparations for the 10-furlong Derby.

Palace Malice will be handled Saturday by Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith. No

rider has been named for Charming Kitten yet.

"We've got somebody in mind, but it isn't official yet," Pletcher said.

The conditioner's other three Derby hopefuls -- unbeaten Wood Memorial winner

Verrazano, Arkansas Derby romper Overanalyze and Louisiana Derby hero

Revolutionary -- walked the shedrow.

"Touch wood," Pletcher said, "they're all doing well and we've only got the

regular things to do -- gallops, trips to the paddock and gate -- for the rest

of the week."

Goldencents has made himself at home since arriving from Southern California (Cecilia Gustavsson/Horsephotos.com) Santa Anita Derby hero Goldencents galloped at Churchill under exercise rider Jonny Garcia, looking strong and moving the same way for his trip around the main track during the Oaks/Derby-runners-only time between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m. (EDT). Trainer Doug O'Neill took in the exercise standing trackside with a band of his "Team O'Neill" posse and gave it his seal of approval. Saturday he'll try to pull off the back-to-back Derby Double (he won it last year with I'll Have Another), a feat accomplished only six times before. Goldencents will be handled by California-based Kevin Krigger, who is not a newcomer to Churchill. He won five races here during the fall meet in 2004. O'Neill has 15 horses under his care at Barn 45 and plans on running between 10 and 12 of them in various races during the coming week. Krigger will ride them all with the exception of two. They would be Renee's Titan in the Grade 3 Eight Belles on Friday and Handsome Mike in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs on Derby Day. Those two runners will be handled by Mario Guitterez, the young rider who became a household name last year when he did the driving for I'll Have Another in the Run for the Roses. Trilogy Stable and Laurie Plesa's Itsmyluckyday galloped 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Peter Shelton at 7 a.m. Monday at Churchill Downs. "He loved it. He bounced all the way around the racetrack. He handled the surface really well -- that's what I liked the most about it," Shelton said. "His energy level is 100 percent."

Trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. traveled to Louisville from his Calder base on Monday

and is expected to send Itsmyluckyday to the track following the renovation

break Tuesday morning.

Itsmyluckyday captured the Gulfstream Park Derby and Holy Bull at Gulfstream

prior to finishing second behind Orb in the Florida Derby. His exercise rider

said he expects the son of Lawyer Ron's running style to be well suited to the

Derby.

"He has tactical speed and a big kick when you ask him," Shelton said.

Shelton said Itsmyluckyday makes his job easy.

"He's not like a lot of horses that really want to go on the bit. He just

holds the bit enough so you can keep a perfect balance with your body," he said.

"You don't even have to move on him. You just have to move your wrist and he

switches his lead; you move your other wrist and he switches his lead. That's

hard to find horses like that. He loves to train."

Elvis Trujillo has the mount aboard Itsmyluckyday.

Following his routine, trainer Chad Brown had Fox Hill Farms' Wood Memorial

runner-up Normandy Invasion trot on the track Monday morning, two days after

breezing five furlongs in :59.

Brown, 35, is all business as he prepares to saddle his first Derby starter.

The Mechanicville, New York, native picked up some Derby experience during a

tour as an assistant for the late Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel before

opening his own stable in 2007.

"I've been here before. I'm excited, but I keep an even keel," Brown said.

"We've got so much going on every morning that I really don't have time to dwell

on it much."

Trainer Rudy Rodriguez said Monday that images of Vyjack lying down and

sleeping in his stall show that the Pick Six Racing gelding has settled into his

new surroundings in Barn 4.

Rodriguez and owner David Wilkenfeld are able to monitor security cameras in

and around the stall and Rodriguez had a picture on his phone of Vyjack on the

ground.

"It's good. He's not nervous. He's relaxing and enjoying himself," Rodriguez

said. "That's a big plus, I think. You want your horse to be able to relax and

be comfortable."

Vyjack galloped 1 1/2 miles under Rodriguez at 8:30 a.m. during the training

period reserved for Derby and Oaks horses.

"He's doing pretty much the same thing that we do back home," Rodriguez said.

"He's doing everything we ask of him and he's very, very comfortable. I'm kind

of surprised myself, but I'm very happy where we're standing right now."

Vyjack opened his career with four consecutive victories and finished third

in his fifth start, the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.

Gold Mark Farm and Whisper Hill Farm's Mylute took to the Churchill Downs

track for a light jog shortly before 6 a.m.

"It was a light day," trainer Tom Amoss said. "Tomorrow will be a busier day;

he'll do a full gallop tomorrow."

Amoss remains confident that Mylute is prepared to put forth a peak effort in

the Kentucky Derby. What remains to be seen is whether that will be enough to

make an impact.

"I'll be frank," Amoss said. "He's going to have to run the best race of his

life to be competitive Saturday. But when it comes to the Kentucky Derby, that

same statement applies to the other 19 in the race. Somebody's going to really

step forward and the one that does is going to be the winner."

One point in Mylute's favor -- at least for those who still believe it's a

point that matters -- is his extensive experience as a two-year-old. The

Midnight Lute colt is one of three Derby probables with seven starts as a

juvenile. Four of those came against stakes company.

"It took a long time for him to show me that he was a proper horse so a lot

of those starts were important in terms of his learning curve," Amoss said. "He

was never a horse that broke well from the gate and a lot of times that cost him

his races. It took him a long time to catch on and understand racing.

"Even in the Louisiana Derby, he passed the winner, Revolutionary, inside the

sixteenth-pole, but he still didn't quite understand. He hasn't quite shown that

killer instinct you need to be a top racehorse. But he learned from the

Louisiana Derby just like he's learned from each of those races."

Sterling Racing's Black Onyx jogged one mile under exercise rider Aurelio

Gomez during the Derby and Oaks session. The Rock Hard Ten colt is officially

dark bay or brown but appears black. His coat and overall striking appearance

have made him a favorite with fans, especially photographers, who gather to

admire the Spiral Stakes winner as he grazes behind Barn 41 each morning.

"He's an eye-catching horse, with his color and everything else,"

trainer Kelly Breen said. "He's put on a little weight since the Spiral and he

looks good."

The Spiral was March 23, six weeks out from Saturday's Kentucky Derby.

Although few trainers would draw up a 42-day layoff between starts by choice,

the Derby success of 2011 Spiral winner Animal Kingdom rendered old assumptions

about spacing irrelevant.

"Part of racing goes by individuals and this horse looks like one that could

use the time in between," Breen said. "It just happens to be that way. You pick

out a race and you happen to win it and if we didn't win it we wouldn't be

here."

Newtown Anner Stud, James Covello and Joseph Bulger's Falling Sky galloped

approximately six furlongs under exercise rider Cassie Garcea Monday morning at

Churchill Downs.

"He's a good feeling colt. It looks like he came out of the breeze really

well. He's hitting the ground great," trainer John Terranova said. "He galloped

from near the quarter-pole to about the five-eighths pole. It was just to

stretch his legs a little bit. It was a light day, first day back after he

walked yesterday."

Falling Sky, the Sam F. Davis winner who worked five furlongs in :59 3/5 on

Friday, will have routine gallops up to Saturday's Kentucky Derby. Terranova

likely will school the son of Lion Heart in the paddock this week.

"He's handled himself well in the paddock each time we've run him. Of course,

it will be different for all of them. It'll be a scene that they've never seen

before and ever will see again," Terranova said. "It'll be something, but he

handles himself well. He's a smart colt."

Luis Saez is slated to ride Falling Sky, who finished fourth after setting

the pace in the Arkansas Derby last time out.

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