Normandy Invasion, McPeek pair drill five furlongs

Normandy Invasion tied for the second-fastest five furlongs of the day (Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography) Fox Hill Farms’ Wood Memorial runner-up Normandy Invasion tuned up for the Kentucky Derby with a five-furlong work in :59 at 5:45 a.m. (EDT) at Churchill Downs on Saturday. It tied for the second-fastest of 52 works at the distance on the fast main track. With rain in the forecast, trainer Chad Brown didn’t want to take any chances and sent the colt out to train nearly three hours before the time set aside for horses headed to the Derby and the Kentucky Oaks. With exercise rider Javier Herrera aboard, Normandy Invasion turned in split times of :11 4/5, :23 1/5, :34 4/5 and :46 3/5. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:11 4/5. “He worked well,” Brown said. “He worked swift, he worked good, comfortable. I was happy with it. He came back sharp and happy.” It was the second work at Churchill Downs for Normandy Invasion since he finished a fast-closing second to unbeaten Verrazano in the Wood Memorial on April 6. “It was more of a maintenance move,” Brown said. “He worked quick, but I thought he did it well within himself. He didn’t work with any company and galloped out well. He came back good. All the serious work is done.”

Brown said the Tapit colt has been eager to train but settled down after
getting away to a sharp start to the work.

“He’s just feeling good. I’m good with it,” Brown said. “Hopefully he has an
uneventful week leading up to the Derby.”

Magic City Thoroughbred Partners’ Frac Daddy and Charles Fipke’s Java’s
War worked five furlongs in company following the renovation break Saturday
morning. Frac Daddy, running on the rail with jockey Victor Lebron up, and
Java’s War, positioned on the outside by exercise rider Marvin Abrego, were
timed in 1:02.

Frac Daddy got the better of stablemate Java’s War (Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography) Frac Daddy, the Arkansas Derby runner-up who finished a half-length in front, galloped out six furlongs in 1:15 4/5, while Java’s War, the Blue Grass Stakes winner, was timed in 1:16 3/5. “It was a nice solid breeze. It was a maintenance work,” trainer Ken McPeek said. “They’ve worked together quite a few times. Frac’s got more speed than the other horse. Java’s War keeps coming.” Frac Daddy’s winter campaign was compromised by a foot injury suffered in the Holy Bull in January and subsequently fell victim to a viral infection that led to the development of ulcers in his throat that likely contributed to an off-the-board finish in the Florida Derby. However, McPeek said he never lost confidence in the son of Scat Daddy. “I went through it with Tejano Run in 1995. Nothing went right for him in the winter and then spring came and everything came together,” said McPeek, who saddled Tejano Run for a runner-up finish in the Kentucky Derby that year. “I’d rather it all go wrong then and go right now.”

Frac Daddy had given his trainer high hopes for this year’s Derby when he
concluded his two-year-old campaign with a sharp second-place finish in the
Kentucky Jockey Club over the Churchill track.

“He likes this racetrack. The timing is right,” McPeek said. “He likes this
surface. We’re encouraged.”

While McPeek is looking for Frac Daddy to show further improvement in the
Derby, McPeek said he’d be happy to see Java’s War maintain his sharp form.

“Frac Daddy is definitely getting better. The horse is just a big, strong,
serious type of horse — a big-bodied horse, too,” McPeek said. “Java, if we can
just maintain his form, I think we’re good there.”

Louisiana Derby runner-up Mylute, with jockey Rosie Napravnik riding, breezed
a half-mile solo early Saturday morning in :50 3/5, tying for the 59th fastest
of 70 workouts at the distance.

Mylute went an easy half-mile by himself, following his training pattern prior to the Louisiana Derby (Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography) Tom Amoss, who trains Mylute for Gold Mark Farm and Whisper Hill Farm, said the workout was typical for him. “Look, I’ve said for three weeks, that Mylute’s big work is going to be similar to what he did before the Louisiana Derby in company, and he did what we wanted him to do,” Amoss said, alluding to a six-furlong bullet in 1:12 1/5 on April 14. “Last week’s work, which was a half-mile (in :47 4/5) by himself, caught me off guard. It was a better work than I anticipated, not the kind of work he typically does. But he had a target. There were a couple horses working in front of him, and it kept his attention. “Today was certainly a mediocre work by most people’s standards, but that is my horse, how he works. His work pattern before the Louisiana Derby is almost identical to what he did today. I’m very comfortable with what he did. I have a horse that’s coming into the Derby the right way.” Mylute made a strong late run in the Louisiana Derby but lost by a neck to Revolutionary. Amoss said that Mylute proved he’s a legitimate horse.

“I think the Louisiana Derby, looking back on it, ends up being a key race,”
Amoss said. “You look at some of the horses that came out of
there. Departing has now won the Illinois Derby, Palace Malice second in
the Blue Grass, so I think the Louisiana Derby is a legitimate race.”

Amoss is participating in his third Kentucky Derby. His previous Derby horses
were Lone Star Sky (15th in 2003) and Backtalk (20th in 2010).

“I think the most important thing, having run two horses in the Kentucky Derby
so far … is to not get caught up in anything other than what your job is, which
as a trainer, my job is to bring a horse into the race the way I think is best,”
Amoss said.

“Not to try to do anything to impress anybody, but to do it my way,
and at the end of the day, being able to say, ‘Hey, he won or lost or ran well
or didn’t run well because of how I trained him.'”

A trainer can get caught up “in wanting to have the media talk well of your
horse, and work well, and read a line or two that says, ‘This horse is doing
great,”‘ Amoss said. “I’ve got no interest in that anymore.”

Trainer Kelly Breen supervised the half-mile work by Sterling Racing’s Black
Onyx at 7:30 Saturday morning, then headed back to New York to saddle a horse in
a stakes at Belmont Park later in the day.

Jockey Joe Bravo was aboard
Black Onyx for the half-mile breeze in :48 3/5. The colt started the work
eight lengths behind Nowhere to Hide and finished a length ahead. The split
times were :12 1/5, :24 1/5 and :36 1/5. He galloped out five furlongs in
1:02 2/5. Nowhere to Hide, now trained by David Fawkes, finished 17th in the 2009
Kentucky Derby won by Mine That Bird. The seven-year-old veteran completed
his half-mile in :50 1/5.

“It was a good workout,” Breen said. “We weren’t looking to go too fast. We know
what the horse is able to do and we want to just keep him doing what he did
before his previous wins. He worked a comfortable :48 3/5. I caught him in :48
2/5 and he finished up in :24 flat. It was a nice workout.”

Black Onyx has won both of his starts since being moved into Breen’s care this
year. He earned his trip to the Derby with a  1 1/2-length victory in the
Spiral Stakes on March 23 at Turfway Park.

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